California health care CEO pleads guilty in public corruption case that netted Alabama legislators

The head of a California-based health care company pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to bribe former Alabama House Majority Leader Micky Hammon in an attempt to influence legislation that could affect a novel diabetes treatment.

G. Ford Gilbert, the CEO of California-based health care company Trina Health, entered the plea Friday for one count of conspiracy, which the prosecution on Friday said related to a $2,000 payment from Gilbert to Hammon in April 2016.

Gilbert was arrested last year as the result of a three-year investigation that began with Hammon, prosecutors said, and netted Alabama legislators and their relationships with a chain of diabetes clinics.

Gilbert was charged along with former state Rep. Jack Williams and former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Martin Connors. Williams in November agreed to sign a pretrial diversion agreement. Defendants who complete pretrial diversion programs to prosecutors’ satisfaction have charges dropped.

Read more: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/04/trina-ceo-plead-guilty-alabama-public-corruption-scheme/2481274002/