Donald Leon Blankenship ( born March 14 , 1950 ) is an American business executive and candidate for the United States Senate in West Virginia in 2018 . He was Chairman and CEO of the Massey Energy Company — the sixth largest coal company ( by 2008 production ) in the United States — from 2000 until his retirement in 2010 . On December 3 , 2015 , Blankenship was found guilty of one misdemeanor charge of conspiring to willfully violate mine safety and health standards in relation to the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion . On August 14 , 2018 , Blankenship 's campaign for Senate made a statement outlining claims that the US Department of Justice 's " Office of Professional Responsibility " has found that the prosecutors who worked to convict Blankenship " failed to disclose sixty-one memoranda of witness interviews ... " and thus committed " reckless " " professional misconduct . " In April 2016 , Blankenship was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $ 250,000 , and reported to FCI Taft the next month . He was released from prison on May 10 , 2017
Upper Big Branch Mine explosion
Upper Big Branch Mine disaster
Don Blankenship