Verizon exec: Pa. lawmaker wanted $50M

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A Verizon executive testified that former Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent Fumo tried to shake him down for $50 million to avoid breaking up the company.

Daniel Whelan, at the time president of Verizon Pennsylvania, said that $15 million was to be deposited in a bank owned by Fumo's family, $2.5 million was to go to Fumo's law firm in fees and $15 million was to be a contribution to Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Fumo, a Philadelphia Democrat and once one of the most powerful state legislators in the state, is on trial in Philadelphia on federal corruption charges. He allegedly got the Citizens' Alliance to pay for many of his personal expenses.

The alleged Verizon shakedown is not part of the indictment. But prosecutors argued that Fumo's actions are relevant to their case.

Whelan said that he consulted two of the city's most prominent lawyers, who told him to "find a way of working it out with the senator," the newspaper reported.

At the time, Fumo backed a plan to split Verizon into wholesale and retail telephone companies.