Billionaire William Koch Accused Of Imprisoning Executive

Billionaire Republican supporter William Koch, of Koch Industries, is facing a federal lawsuit from one of his former executives. John Houston Scott, an attorney for Kirby Martensen, who formerly served as an executive for Oxbow Carbon Minerals International says that Koch lead Martensen to one of their many properties where he was imprisoned and interrogated over an alleged theft from the company according to Courthouse News.

Scott estimates that the case will be going to court within the year. The lawsuit was filed in San Francisco, where the Koch Brothers are heavily unpopular.

Martensen alleges in his lawsuit that William Koch received an anonymous letter accusing Martensen of mismanagement and stealing from Oxbow. Martensen was the vice president of the company at the time. Martensen says that after receiving the letter Koch read his letters and e-mails which questioned the legality of Oxbow’s tax avoidance strategies. He says he was transferred overseas so that Koch could go ahead with his strategy to avoid paying taxes on $200 million dollars in profits.

Brad Goldstein, Director of Corporate Affairs for Oxbow said in a statement:

“Kirby Martensen states in a lawsuit that we investigated him for participating in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud, accepting bribes and diverting business from our company. He is right. We absolutely investigated Martensen and determined that he did participate in the fraud against the company. We identified who was defrauding us and are pursuing appropriate action to hold them accountable. In fact, several of the wrongdoers have admitted their involvement and one has directly implicated Mr. Martensen in the scheme. “

Martensen says that when he was brought by Koch to the property he was interrogated and not allowed to return to the airport to make his flight out. He says that he was prevented from leaving by a sheriff. Martensen says that after his interrogation Koch had him flown to San Francisco with someone he believed to be armed.

Goldstein said of the lawsuit:

“Any allegations of misconduct by Mr. Koch simply are untrue and stem from Martensen’s attempts to divert attention from his own wrongdoing,”

William Koch is estimated to be worth $4 billion dollars. He last made headlines by having an entire Old West town constructed for his own amusement. The Koch brothers have pledged more than $100 million dollars to elect Mitt Romney in November.