Kodak Kickback Trial To Begin

Barring a last-minute hitch, jury selection is scheduled to begin this morning in a trial alleging the payment of kickbacks to manipulate property assessments in Monroe County, primarily on Eastman Kodak Co. holdings in Greece.

About 120 potential jurors from nine counties are expected to be called to U.S. District Court in Rochester to be screened for the trial of appraiser John E. Nicolo, former Kodak executive David N. Finnman and Nicolo's wife, Constance J. Roeder.

The jury will hear evidence alleging that Nicolo and Finnman conspired with former Greece Assessor Charles A. Schwab and former Kodak executive Mark S. Camarata to manipulate assessments in exchange for kickbacks. Schwab and Camarata have pleaded guilty and could be called as witnesses.

Roeder, along with her husband, is charged with hiding fraudulently obtained funds through dummy corporations and falsified tax returns.

S.C. Johnson Wins Award In Kickback Scheme

A jury awarded consumer products giant S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. $147 million in damages Tuesday to compensate it for losses suffered in a trucking kickback scheme.

The Racine-based maker of products like Ziploc and Glade sued its former transportation director, Milton Morris, and a dozen other people and companies alleging a widespread scheme to bilk it out of millions of dollars. The company had asked for more than $100 million in damages.

The company claimed Morris, trucking company owner Thomas Buske, and others inflated rates and pocketed the excess. They paid each other with trips to places such as Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, rounds of golf and cash transferred through poker games.