VMT’s Varela Gets Two Years in the Pokey

Owner of Vallejo’s VMT business which operated without permits here at the old Sperry Mill site for months has been given a 24-month sentence in federal prison.

Alan Varela was also fined $127,000 for a seven-year conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. Varela bribed San Francisco Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru in the hopes of getting a plum deal for his business’s cement plant.

“Varela’s conduct with Nuru was business as usual for Varela,” reads the FBI press release.

Varela raised eyebrows here when a public records request revealed that the VMT principals had asked for a “private” meeting with former City Manager Greg Nyhoff.

I covered the VMT permits debacle for the Times-Herald and you can read it here.

VMT was part of the whole Orcem saga. The businesses wanted to build a “green” cement plant at the site on Derr St. Massive public outcry and, frankly, VMT missing myriad deadlines all led to its demise.