Bribery | The Contracting Education Academy

September 21, 2018 By cs

VA official charged with taking bribes to help associates rig federal contracting process

Three men were arrested in Colorado on Wednesday of this week pursuant to warrants issued in connection with an indictment charging them with conspiring to pay and receive bribes in exchange for creating an opportunity to commit a fraud against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The defendants are also charged with paying and receiving bribes, or aiding and abetting the payment of bribes.

Dwane Nevins, a VA contracting official at the time of the alleged crimes, was separately charged in another count with extortion under color of official right and in two counts with violating the federal conflict of interest statute.

The following is alleged in the indictment:

Dwane Nevins — a small business specialist at the VA’s Network Contracting Office in Colorado — agreed to take bribes offered by Robert Revis, Anthony Bueno and an undercover FBI agent to help them manipulate the process for bidding on federal contracts with the VA.
Revis and Bueno, working with Nevins, agreed to submit fraudulent bids from service-disabled-veteran-owned small businesses under contract with their consulting company so that federal contracts would be set aside for only those companies. As Bueno allegedly explained, they would then “own all the dogs on the track.”
Nevins, Bueno and Revis worked to conceal the nature of the bribe payments by either kicking back to Nevins a portion of the payments made to their consulting company, or by asking their consulting company’s clients to pay Nevins for sham training classes related to federal contracting.

The indictment also alleges that, after complaining about not being paid by Revis and Bueno for his participation in the scheme, Nevins used his official position at the VA to extort approximately $10,000 from an undercover FBI agent, telling the agent that “the train don’t go without me. You know what I mean? I’m the engine. I’m the caboose. I’m the engine room.” Nevins also allegedly told the undercover FBI agent: “This is a business and businessmen need to get paid . . . . so I can have my Christmas, you know what I’m saying?”

The indictment alleges that the conspirators attempted to rig the process related to two particular contracts, both of which related to medical equipment and not to the construction of any VA facilities. The first contract related to the procurement of LC bead particle embolization products by a VA hospital in Salt Lake City, and the second contract related to the procurement of durable medical equipment for VA facilities located throughout the region.

The case was jointly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.

Readers are reminded that the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

August 15, 2018 By cs

Millions flow to Pentagon’s banned contractors via a back door

Some of the world’s largest companies have benefited from a little-known law that lets the Defense Department override decisions barring contractors accused or convicted of bribery, fraud, theft, and other crimes from doing business with the government.

International Business Machines Corp., Boeing Co., BP Plc, and several other contractors have received special dispensation to fulfill multimillion-dollar government contracts through “compelling reason determinations.” That process allows the Defense Department in rare cases to determine that the need to fulfill certain contracts justifies doing business with companies that have been suspended from government work.

The 22 determinations were released by the General Services Administration at the request of Bloomberg Government, allowing for the first collective examination of the cases and the system that allowed them.

The determinations, also referred to as waivers or overrides, included contracts to provide food services for Defense Department personnel at an Army base in Afghanistan, “vital” web-hosting services for an agency that serves the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community, and aviation fuel sold to the Defense Logistics Agency.

Keep reading this article at: https://about.bgov.com/blog/millions-flow-pentagons-banned-contractors-via-back-door/

See further analysis at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/charlestiefer/2018/08/05/study-of-waivers-of-federal-contractor-debarments-leads-to-review-of-major-criminal-charges/#654bac3c6ac3

July 17, 2018 By cs

Former COR and a contractor at Eglin Air Force Base plead guilty to conspiracy and bribery

Jerry T. Vertefeuille and Christopher A. Carter, both Florida residents, have pled guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of honest services and wire fraud as well as bribery of a public official.

Vertefeuille also pleaded guilty to obtaining and disclosing procurement information.

The guilty pleas were announced on July 13, 2018 by Christopher P. Canova, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

Vertefeuille was a federal government contracting officer representative (COR) for the 96 Test Wing Maintenance Group (96 MXG) at Eglin Air Force Base. His duties included overseeing maintenance work and initially approving purchases and invoices.

In 2007, Vertefeuille helped Carter, as the owner of TCC Services, Unlimited, LLC, win a paint booth maintenance contract, as well as multiple contract renewals, until 2014. Vertefeuille received kickbacks in exchange for approving Carter’s fraudulent invoices and recommending the renewal of TCC’s contract. An investigation later revealed that TCC and another contractor submitted invoices for payment to the U.S. Air Force for the same work.

For the conspiracy charge, the defendants face a maximum of 20 years in prison. For bribery of a public official, they face a maximum of 15 years in prison. For obtaining and disclosing procurement information, Vertefeuille also faces a maximum of 5 years in prison. The sentencing hearings are scheduled for September 26 at the U.S. Courthouse in Pensacola.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Air Force Audit Agency, and Defense Criminal Investigative Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey M. Tharp.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/pr/business-owner-and-former-government-contracting-officer-representative-plead-guilty

March 14, 2018 By cs

COR sentenced to prison for soliciting $320,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors

A former employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) based in Afghanistan was sentenced on Mar. 8, 2018 to 100 months in prison for soliciting approximately $320,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors in return for his assistance in U.S. government contracts.

Mark E. Miller, 49, of Springfield, Illinois was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison sentence and forfeit $180,000 and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Miller previously pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with seeking and receiving bribes.

Miller admitted worked for the USACE from 2005 until 2015, including in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, and maintained a residence in Springfield during that time. From February 2009 to October 2011, Miller was assigned to a military base, Camp Clark, in eastern Afghanistan. He was the site manager and a contracting officer representative (COR) for a number of construction projects in Afghanistan.

On Dec. 10, 2009, the USACE awarded a contract worth approximately $2.9 million to an Afghan construction company for the construction of a road from eastern Afghanistan to the Pakistani border. This contract later increased in value to approximately $8,142,300. Miller oversaw the work of the Afghan company on this road project, including verifying that the company performed the work called for by the contract and, if so, authorizing progress payments to the company by the USACE.

As part of his guilty plea, Miller admitted that, in the course of overseeing the contract with the Afghan company, he solicited from the owners of the company approximately $280,000 in bribes in return for making things easier for the company on the road project, including making sure the contract moved along and was not terminated. He further admitted that, after the contract was no longer active, he solicited an additional $40,000 in bribes in return for the possibility of future contract work and other benefits.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit, with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Fort Worth Division. The Dept. of Justice Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Central District of Illinois prosecuted this case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-employee-us-army-corps-engineers-afghanistan-sentenced-prison-soliciting-approximately

February 26, 2018 By cs

Bribes and kickbacks at Joint Base Charleston lead to sentencing

U.S. Attorney Beth Drake announced on Feb. 23, 2018 that Barbara Powell was sentenced in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, for bribery of a public employee, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201.

Powell has been sentenced to 6 months imprisonment, 3 years supervised release, and a $12,500 fine.

The investigation in this case proved the existence of public corruption in construction contracts at the Joint Base in Charleston (JBC). JBC was formed in 2010 when the Naval Weapons Station and the Charleston Air Force base merged. As a large and aging military base, JBC hires private companies on a regular basis to renovate and/or build facilities.

Barbara Powell was a Contracting Officer (CO) at JBC, and her duties included awarding and administering construction contracts to private companies on behalf of the federal government. From 2011 until 2015, Powell solicited and received dozens of bribes from subcontractors at JBC. The value of the bribes exceeded $15,000. In return for these bribes, Powell steered projects to some subcontractors to the detriment of other subcontractors, and she forwarded the bid proposals of some subcontractors to other subcontractors that paid her bribes. Federal COs are prohibited by law from providing confidential pricing information to anyone outside the government.

The case was investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/goose-creek-woman-sentenced-receiving-kickbacks

Three men were arrested in Colorado on Wednesday of this week pursuant to warrants issued in connection with an indictment charging them with conspiring to pay and receive bribes in exchange for creating an opportunity to commit a fraud against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Some of the world’s largest companies have benefited from a little-known law that lets the Defense Department override decisions barring contractors accused or convicted of bribery, fraud, theft, and other crimes from doing business with the government.

Jerry T. Vertefeuille and Christopher A. Carter, both Florida residents, have pled guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of honest services and wire fraud as well as bribery of a public official.

A former employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) based in Afghanistan was sentenced on Mar. 8, 2018 to 100 months in prison for soliciting approximately $320,000 in bribes from Afghan contractors in return for his assistance in U.S. government contracts.

U.S. Attorney Beth Drake announced on Feb. 23, 2018 that Barbara Powell was sentenced in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina, for bribery of a public employee, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201.

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