A New Jersey company alleges the City of Terre Haute awarded contracts on a pay to play basis.
It allegedly happened during the sludge to diesel operation the city killed back in 2014. The company, Overseas Lease Group (OLG), is suing Plocher Construction of Illinois. Plocher was the construction company for the Waste Water Treatment Plant expansion. The suit says Plocher caused OLG at least $89 million in damages. The damages resulted from an alleged illegal scheme. According to OLG’s lawyer, the scheme included Mayor Duke Bennett and Mark Thompson, the superintendent of the Waster Water Utility. The city, Mayor Bennett, and Thompson are not defendants in the suit. However, OLG has accused Bennett of holding secret meetings and running bribes. Mayor Bennett denies that there were any secret meetings. The mayor also said a federal judge dismissed OLG’s lawsuit against the city in 2016. The 2016 suit never alleged to any pay to play scheme.