Stick it to them.

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Sentencing ready for 2 in permit scheme - Crime/Safety - NewsObserver.com.

RALEIGH -- A federal judge is prepared to sentence two former company investors for conspiring to give $196,000 in cash and consulting fees to a then-state employee to expedite an air quality permit for an ethanol plant.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle set sentencing hearings today for David Lee Brady of Raleigh and James Albert Perry of Wake Forest. They entered plea agreements last June and each face up to five years in prison.

The two men acknowledged conspiring to commit extortion to get help from environmental regulator Boyce Allen Hudson, who pleaded guilty last year to extortion and money-laundering and received a 40-month prison sentence.

Perry and Brady each had a share in the company aiming to build a plant in Beaufort County.