Construction Company President Pleads Guilty to Bribing Public Official

Acting United States Attorney Thomas Scott Woodward announced that the president of a local construction firm pled guilty today in federal court in Tulsa to bribing a Tulsa public works official.

Max Elliot Wolf, age 57, of Owasso, president of Horizon Construction Company, Inc., pled guilty to Procurement Fraud Bribery. He also agreed to pay the City of Tulsa restitution in the amount of $939,078.56. ($100,000 was paid today in the form of a cashier's check and the balance is due one week prior to his sentencing date). Wolf admitted that from mid-2005 until June 2008, he made numerous bribery payments to former Tulsa Public Works Field Engineering Manager Albert Martinez with the intent to influence and reward Martinez for certifying fraudulent inflated invoices submitted by Horizon.

Wolf is the fifth defendant to plead guilty in the public works corruption cases. His sentencing is set for December 14, 2009, after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office. Wolf faces a prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of $250,000.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern is presiding in the case. The plea today was before Magistrate Judge T. Lane Wilson. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Clinton J. Johnson, Joseph F. Wilson, and Catherine J. Depew are prosecuting for the government. The investigation was undertaken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.