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Former SCANA CEO sentenced to 2 years in federal prison

Melinda Waldrop //October 7, 2021//

Former SCANA CEO sentenced to 2 years in federal prison

Melinda Waldrop //October 7, 2021//

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Former SCANA Corp. CEO Kevin Marsh has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in the V.C. Summer nuclear debacle.  

Marsh, 66, who pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Mary Lewis. Following his 24-month sentence, Marsh will serve a three-year term of court-ordered supervision, according to a news release from acting U.S. Attorney M. Rhett DeHart’s office.  

There is no parole in the federal system. Marsh, who paid $5 million in federal forfeiture prior to his sentencing, was also fined $200,000. 

Evidence showed that Marsh intentionally defrauded ratepayers while overseeing and managing SCANA’s operations, including the construction of twin reactors at the V.C. Summer nuclear station in Fairfield County, so SCANA could obtain and retain rate increases and qualify for up to $2.2 billion in tax credits. In 2016, confronted with information that project delays put those credits at risk, Marsh and others withheld that information from regulators and made “false and materially misleading statements,” according to DeHart’s office. 

“Due to this fraud, an $11 billion nuclear ghost town, paid for by SCANA investors and customers, now sits vacant in Jenkinsville, S.C.,” DeHart said in the release. “Hopefully, this prosecution will deter other corporate fraud in the future.” 

DeHart’s office noted that Marsh has no prior criminal history and has cooperated with federal and state investigators for more than a year in the ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing related to the V.C. Summer project. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also obtained guilty pleas from Stephen Byrne, former SCANA executive vice president and ex-COO of former SCANA subsidiary S.C. Electric & Gas, as well as Carl Churchman, former Westinghouse Electric Corporation vice president and V.C. Summer project director. 

Westinghouse was the contractor for the project, abandoned in July 2017 in the wake of mounting delays and rising costs after more than $9 billion had been spent on the reactors’ construction. SCANA and SCE&G settled a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit charging the companies with defrauding investors in November 2020 and settled a lawsuit with SCE&G ratepayers in November 2018 for $2.2 billion. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also executed cooperation agreements with Dominion Energy, which acquired SCANA in a merger approved in December 2018, and has charged Jeffrey Benjamin, former Westinghouse senior vice president, in a 16-count felony criminal indictment. 

Marsh is the first defendant to be sentenced in the case. 

“Kevin Marsh deceived regulators and customers to financially benefit SCANA,” said Susan Ferensic, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Columbia Field Office. “Unfortunately, Marsh’s and other executive’s actions resulted in South Carolinians bearing the financial brunt of the failed Summer nuclear station.  This sentence should serve as a reminder to any corporation and their executives that there is a price to pay for those who conspire to commit fraud.” 

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