Michael Armitage, whose company EV Worldwide had proposed to develop an energy-saving battery to power electric buses, last October pleaded guilty in federal court to 10 criminal counts of fraud and tax evasion related to the battery venture. Now a partner of Armitage’s, Christopher D. Willson, has been convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud (six counts) and false claims (four counts).
The company the two ran, EV Worldwide of Pittsfield, was supposed to develop the revolutionary battery using its own capital, to be matched 50-50 by a $4.3 million Federal Transit Administration grant. But prosecutors charged that Willson, chief scientist and senior vice president of the company, submitted phony invoices for money he falsely claimed had been put into the project by the company. According to the prosecution, he gave federal officials progress updates that were also fabricated. On the basis of the specious information and falsified invoices, the company collected over $700,000 in federal reimbursement. $110,000 went to capitalize Hydrogen Storage Media, Inc., a company founded in Canada by Armitage and Willson. $250,000 allegedly went to Armitage and $100,000 to Willson, “for their own benefit,” prosecutors said.
In the mid-1990s, Armitage started up the Berkshire Power gas-fired electric plant in Agawam and socialized openly with the Bruno family, headed by convicted mobster Al Bruno, who was shot dead in Springfield in 2003. El Paso Energy, Kredietbank of Belgium and Asea Brown Boveri of Switzerland were involved in the Berkshire Power project at the early stages. Armitage is scheduled for sentencing in September, Willson in October. Willson could be sentenced to up to 20 years on each of the six wire fraud counts; the other counts bring sentences of up to five years and possible fines of $250,000 per count. Armitage faces a possible six years in prison and $ 6 million restitution.
