Cruise Ship Law

Original posting at 12:57 p.m. ET: Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has been indicted by a federal grand jury, according to MSNBC and McClatchy newspapers.

As we reported last year, federal agents searched the veteran lawmaker's residence in Alaska as part of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation.

Update at 12:59 p.m. ET: CNN is now reporting on the indictment. The Justice Department has scheduled a news briefing for 1:20 p.m. ET.

Update at 1:10 p.m. ET: CBS News quotes anonymous government officials who say Stevens faces seven counts of lying to investigators, including statements he made about his association with an oil-services company called VECO.

Stevens has served in the U.S. Senate since 1968.

Update at 1:22 p.m. ET: Bloomberg News says the indictment accuses Stevens of lying on his Senate financial disclosure forms from 1999 to 2006. He "knowingly and willfully engaged in a scheme to conceal'' his receipt of "hundreds of thousands of dollars'' of gifts, the indictment says, according to the wire service.

OpenSecrets posted copies of his annual disclosure forms. McClatchy has background on the investigation.

Update at 1:34 p.m. ET: USA TODAY's Donna Leinwand, quoting from a Justice Department press release, says the federal grand jury charged Stevens with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms.

The Justice Department accuses him of engaging in an eight-year scheme to conceal items worth more than $250,000 that he received from Veco Corp. and one of its executives, Bill Allen.

The gifts included home improvements, vehicles and various household goods, according to the press release.

Update at 1:50 p.m. ET: Matthew Friedrich, acting assistant attorney general for the criminal division, is briefing reporters.

"The indictment charges that while he was sitting as a United States senator, between 1999 and 2006, Senator Stevens accepted gifts from a privately owned company known as Veco, its chief executive officer and others," he says.

Stevens is alleged to have received more than $250,000 worth of gifts, including: architectural designs for renovations, installation of electrical, heating and framing materials, installation of a deck and a plastic roof, gutter repair and electrical work. He also received furniture, a Viking gas range, a tool storage cabinet and a "new vehicle worth far more than what he provided in exchange."

Update at 1:55 p.m. ET: Friedrich says seven people have been convicted since this corruption probe began four years ago in Alaska. "That investigation is continuing," he says.

Update at 1:59 p.m. ET: Stevens wasn't charged with taking bribes, Friedrich says.

"Paragraph 17 of the indictment ... alleges that at the same time that Senator Stevens was receiving these things of value, over that same time period, he was also being solicited by Veco to do certain things, which he or his staff on occasion did," Friedrich says. "The indictment does not allege a quid pro quo."

Update at 2:06 p.m. ET: Here's a copy of the 28-page indictment.

This is the section of the court filing that Friedrich referred to when he discussed the possible motivations of the donors.

It was a part of the scheme that STEVENS, while during that same time period that he was concealing his continuing receipt of things of value from ALLEN and VECO from 1999 to 2006, received and accepted solicitations for multiple official actions from ALLEN and other VECO employees, and knowing that STEVENS could and did use his official position and his office on behalf of VECO during that same time period. These solicitations for official action, some of which were made directly to STEVENS, included the following topics: (a) funding requests and other assistance with certain international VECO projects and partnerships, including those in Pakistan and Russia; (b) requests for multiple federal grants and contracts to benefit VECO, its subsidiaries, and its business partners, including grants from the National Science Foundation to a VECO subsidiary; and (c) assistance on both federal and state issues in connection with the effort to construct a natural gas pipeline from Alaska's North Slope Region.

Update at 4:54 p.m. ET: Stevens' Senate colleagues, and others, have been weighing in with reaction, compiled by the Associated Press, to the indictment.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., says he has known the Alaska senator for 28 years and "have always known him to be impeccably honest.”

Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, is quoted as saying: “With this indictment, members of Congress have been put on notice that the Justice Department, on behalf of the American people, will not tolerate members abusing their positions for private personal gain.”

Update at 5:04 p.m. ET: Roll Call cites a senior GOP aide as saying that the Alaska senator has stepped down from his post atop two committees.