Nearly two years before he is to be released from a federal prison in California for attempting to rig Alaska's political process by buying off politicians, Bill Allen finally received some good news, if you can call it that.

The U.S. Department of Justice has decided not to pursue child sexual abuse charges against him, according to The Associated Press.

The 73-year old former Alaska oilman watched his business empire, career and credibility implode amid a sweeping and high-profile public corruption probe. For about three years, he was federal prosecutors' ace-in-the-hole witness, admitting to offering cash and promises to state lawmakers who were enmeshed in a rewrite of the state's oil taxes.

More than one defense attorney for the growing list of indicted politicians linked to Allen's bribery attempted to discredit the government's star witness by showing he had a big secret to hide. His alleged taste for teenage girls deserved to be on the record, as did a supposedly suppressed investigation into the allegations. It was, they argued, a trade off: calling off the cops looking into accusations of child sexual abuse in exchange for Allen saying whatever the government wanted on the stand. Allen's credibility fell under further scrutiny during the trial of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens when it was revealed that prosecutors had gathered conflicting statements from Allen about his relationship to the senator, but only made the defense aware of the version that made Stevens look bad.

No judge in any of the trials allowed a jury to hear the claims and Allen denied the accusations through his lawyers. Later, when more women came forward claiming they had had underage sexual relations with Allen, the investigation was revived.

On Friday, an Anchorage Police Department spokesperson confirmed that Allen won't be charged, as did a second, unnamed person familiar with the case, according to AP.

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In August 2008, Alaska Dispatch sat down with a young woman who claimed she'd been Bill Allen's underage prostitute starting in 1999. The alleged victim, identified in the story at the time by her middle name, Marie, is Paula Roberds. After our interview, she reported her past relationship with Allen to Anchorage police in August 2008.

Roberds told us at the time that Allen was her main client from 1999 to 2001, when she was a prostitute between the ages of 15 and 17. Roberds claimed Allen paid her more than $20,000 in cash and gifts, including flying her to Alaska for sex when she was briefly living in Seattle. The age of consent in Alaska is 16. There is no statute of limitations for sex crimes involving children.