Even before he was arrested for fraud, investigated by grievance officials and asked a judge to keep secret his contacts with "a covert federal agent," Hartford attorney James W. Oliver was well known to state officials. His particular nemesis was former Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, with whom he clashed more than once in the first decade of this century.
In one notable case, Blumenthal filed a lawsuit against the New England Pellet Company, which pre-sold contracts for wood pellets to customers. When New England Pellet's distributor cut supplies of the pellets, which are burned to heat houses and other buildings, the company couldn't honor its contracts.
