2nd Man Pleads Guilty in Houston in New York Tour Boat Insurance Case

A second man has pleaded guilty in Houston in a case involving the sale of insurance to a New York tour operator whose boat capsized in 2005 killing 20 elderly tourists, federal officials reported. Edmund Hugh Benton, 63, of Scottsdale, Ariz., pleaded guilty to the federal felony offense of conspiracy to launder money before U.S. District Judge Sim Lake in Houston, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge Rodney E. Clarke announced. Benton’s Oct. 7 plea followed a similar one in the case two days earlier by Houstonian Christopher Purser, 50.