Court appearances postponed for ex-SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh in SC nuclear project case
Two back-to-back court appearances scheduled Tuesday for Kevin Marsh, the former CEO of now-defunct energy giant SCANA who was set to plead guilty to federal conspiracy fraud charges, have been postponed.
The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office advised the postponement of Marsh’s federal and state hearings Monday afternoon.
Marsh, 65, was scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday at Columbia’s federal courthouse before appearing in Richland County court on a state charge of obtaining a signature or property by false pretenses of a value of $10,000 or more.
No reason for the postponement was listed in the email sent by the attorney general’s office.
But an email from South Carolina’s U.S. Attorney’s Office said the postponement was “due to logistics.”
A rescheduled plea date will be announced when available, the email said.
Marsh agreed to plead guilty in November to federal fraud charges, following a multi-year investigation between federal prosecutors and the FBI who were looking into Marsh’s role in the 2017 failure of the $9 billion V.C. Summer nuclear project run by then Cayce-based SCANA, at that time an investor-owned utility.
Federal prosecutors charged Marsh with helping to lead a two-year cover-up, from 2016 to 2018, of the dire financial problems that ultimately jeopardized the nuclear project and led to the demise of SCANA, according to case records and evidence.
Marsh’s plea agreement includes a tentative prison sentence of at least 18 months, and he must forfeit $5 million in connection to the nuclear project.
Marsh is not the only former SCANA employee caught up in the legal system.
Stephen Byrne, a SCANA executive, pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy charges. He is now out on bond.
Byrne and Marsh will be sentenced at a later date next year.
Marsh is being represented by Robert Bolchoz of Columbia, and Brady Hair and Derk Van Raalte IV, both of Charleston.
Emily Limehouse, Brook Andrews, Winston Holliday and Jim May are federal prosecutors in the case. State attorney general prosecutors on the case are Don Zelenka, Creighton Waters and David Fernandez.
Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against Byrne and Marsh, alleging they defrauded investors by making false statements about the progress of Fairfield County’s nuclear project.
Those charges are still pending.
Reporter John Monk contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 1:29 PM.
