Former Westlake sewer contractor sentenced for bribery

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

A contractor has been sentenced to four years, nine months in prison on charges he conspired to pay more than $600,000 in bribes for favorable treatment in legal disputes involving contracts from the Cleveland-area sewage agency.

The U.S. attorney’s office said 62-year-old Robert Kassouf, formerly of Westlake, also was ordered Wednesday to repay $682,130 restitution to the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. The office says he had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in federally funded programs.

The Plain Dealer reports that Kassouf told the sentencing judge that he made a mistake and takes responsibility.

Kassouf and a business partner who was sentenced to a year in prison allegedly bribed attorney William Schatz of the sewer district from 2000 to 2007.

Schatz was sentenced to five years, 10 months in prison.