(March 24, 2006)—Former Electric Reliability Council of Texas chief information officer Kenneth Shoquist, 54, has pleaded guilty to engaging in organized criminal activity for commercial bribery in connection with what prosecutors described as an organized crime enterprise that bilked ERCOT out of nearly $1 million in false billings, Attorney General Greg Abbott said Friday.

ERCOT manages the state’s power grid.

Shoquist, who now lives in California, admitted taking $120,000 in checks from a company owned by a fellow ERCOT employee and codefendant Stephen C. Wallace, Abbott said.

Shoquist agreed to repay the money and faces an eight-year prison sentence after entering the guilty plea.

“This defendant was the gatekeeper who made the scope of this white-collar crime possible by hiring and enabling the other criminals in the first place," Abbott said.

"It is safe to say that none of the fraud that occurred at ERCOT would have been possible except for the insider dealing he encouraged,” he said.

Prosecutors alleged that Shoquist, who was responsible for Wallace’s hiring, signed off on contracts and invoices billing ERCOT for work that was never actually done.

They say Wallace paid Shoquist monthly kickbacks ranging from $7,500 to $20,000.

Shoquist is the third defendant in the case to plead guilty.

John Cavazos, a contractor named in a one-count indictment, was sentenced to four years of probation or deferred adjudication and ordered to pay $8,700 in restitution.

Christopher Uranga, the former director of IT security, was named in six indictments. He pleaded guilty to two counts of misapplication of funds and faces as much as 15 years in prison. He agreed to restitution of more than $500,000.

ERCOT’s former senior Data Warehouse manager, Christopher Douglas, is cooperating with prosecutors, Abbott said, and has yet to enter a plea on any charges.

Two other defendants are still awaiting trial, Wallace, who’s named in two indictments in Williamson County and a three-count theft indictment in Travis County and Carlos Luquis, ERCOT’s former physical security manager, who’s named in six indictments.

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