corruption | The Contracting Education Academy

December 17, 2019 By cs

Former Army employee charged with bribery, kickbacks in connection with scheme to steer contracts

A former civilian employee of the U.S. Army was charged in an indictment unsealed Dec. 12th for his role in a scheme to steer Army contracts for work to be performed at Camp Arifjan, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait.

Ephraim Garcia, 62, was charged in an indictment filed in December 2018 in the District of Columbia with one count of offering a bribe, one count of receiving illegal gratuities and one count of offering kickbacks.

The indictment further charges Gandhi Raj, 39, with paying illegal gratuities to Garcia.

As alleged in the indictment:

Garcia worked in the U.S. Army’s Directorate of Public Works and was involved in the solicitation, award and management of various government contracts related to projects at Camp Arifjan.
In or around September 2015, Garcia allegedly approached an employee of a prime contractor and offered to pay him in exchange for his assistance in steering contracts to a particular subcontractor owned by Raj, Gulf Link Venture Company.
Garcia allegedly told the prime contractor employee that Gulf Link would artificially inflate the cost of certain of its bid proposals, and Garcia, Gulf Link and the prime contractor employee would split the proceeds.
Additionally, over a period of about five years, Garcia and/or members of his immediate family allegedly received over $170,000 in wire transfers from Raj and other individuals associated with Gulf Link and another subcontractor that was bidding on work under the prime contract.

Garcia was arrested on Dec. 10, 2019, in the Philippines, where he has been residing since 2016. Raj, who was living in Kuwait at the time of the offense, remains a fugitive.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) investigated the case. The Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-army-employee-charged-bribery-kickbacks-connection-scheme-steer-contracts

November 27, 2019 By cs

New York-based company was caught allegedly selling Chinese-made hardware to the DoD

Aventura Technologies, based out of Long Island, New York, was just busted by the government after allegedly having fraudulently sold security gear to the U.S. military for years, racking up millions in federal contract money.

According to Aventura’s website, which as of November 12 is still up and running, the company claimed to be a “true single-source manufacturer providing end-to-end hardware and software solutions.”

Some of these hardware solutions included ground-based radar, turnstiles, and closed-circuit television systems, all of which the company claimed were manufactured in America. Between 2007 and 2018, Aventura reportedly supplied various branches of the U.S. military with over $20 million dollars of said equipment.

From November 2010 to the present day, it’s estimated that Aventura pulled in over $88 million in sales to both the government and the private sector.

The sting that eventually brought down Aventura was a few years in the making, including an anonymous tip in 2017, and the discovery of Chinese lettering on a body camera by Air Force personnel the following year.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/gearscout/irons/2019/11/14/this-new-york-based-company-was-just-caught-allegedly-selling-chinese-made-hardware-to-the-dod/

November 11, 2019 By cs

DOJ announces ‘strike force’ to combat procurement crimes

The Justice Department announced last week the creation of a new interagency partnership to combat antitrust and procurement crimes.

The Procurement Collusion Strike Force will “deter, detect, investigate, and prosecute antitrust crimes and related criminal schemes,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim at a press conference. The strike force will use a “district-based task force organization model” to facilitate cooperation between the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, 13 Attorneys’ Offices, FBI and inspector general offices for Defense and Justice Departments, General Services Administration and U.S. Postal Service.

“When government contractors collude with each other to rig bids for government contracts at the federal, state, or local level, it leads to artificially higher prices for those goods or services. When the government has to pay those artificially higher prices, all American taxpayers are paying for it,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen at the press conference. “Strike Force will better inform federal, state, and local government procurement communities about these criminal activities and how to detect and report them.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/11/justice-department-announces-strike-force-combat-procurement-crimes/161103/

August 21, 2019 By cs

Former State Dept. employee pleads guilty to procurement fraud

The official had a social relationship with a furniture manufacturing executive, with whom she shared confidential contract information.

A former State Department official pleaded guilty last week to disclosing confidential proposal bids in an attempt to help a furniture company executive win a $1.56 million contract.

In December 2016, Patricia DeLaughter, former manager of the department’s Overseas Office Furniture Program, was working to solicit proposals for furnishing a new U.S. embassy when she and another department official knowingly disclosed the confidential bid prices and design plans of competitors to Steven Anstine, vice president of sales for an Overland Park, Kansas, manufacturing company, according to the Justice Department. Multiple news outlets, including The Post and Courier, identified the company as Bernhardt Furniture.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/08/former-state-department-employee-pleads-guilty-procurement-fraud/159170/

February 14, 2019 By AMK

Former COR sentenced to 5 years in prison for conspiracy and bribery

Jerry T. Vertefeuille of Niceville, Florida was sentenced on Feb. 12th to 60 months in prison. Co-defendant Christopher A. Carter of Fort Walton Beach, Florida is scheduled to be sentenced on February 15th.

Vertefeuille pleaded guilty to conspiracy (to commit theft of honest services and wire fraud), bribery of a public official, and obtaining and disclosing procurement information.

Vertefeuille was a federal 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. Vertefeuille received kickbacks in exchange for approving Carter’s fraudulent invoices and recommending the renewal of TCC’s contract.

U.S. Attorney Keefe said: “Public corruption is an attack on the rule of law, which is the mission of the Department of Justice and the cornerstone of American government. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, is committed to upholding the public’s faith in honest services and enforcing high ethical standards.”

“Corruption in the government procurement process damages the public trust and ultimately degrades the warfighting mission of the Department of Defense,” commented Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin with the southeast field office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS). “DCIS, along with our investigative partners, remains committed to pursuing and bringing to justice anyone who uses fraud and deception to undermine the critical missions of the Department of Defense and the safety of our communities.”

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndfl/pr/former-government-contracting-officer-representative-sentenced-60-months-prison

A former civilian employee of the U.S. Army was charged in an indictment unsealed Dec. 12th for his role in a scheme to steer Army contracts for work to be performed at Camp Arifjan, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait.

Aventura Technologies, based out of Long Island, New York, was just busted by the government after allegedly having fraudulently sold security gear to the U.S. military for years, racking up millions in federal contract money.

The Justice Department announced last week the creation of a new interagency partnership to combat antitrust and procurement crimes.

The official had a social relationship with a furniture manufacturing executive, with whom she shared confidential contract information.

Jerry T. Vertefeuille of Niceville, Florida was sentenced on Feb. 12th to 60 months in prison. Co-defendant Christopher A. Carter of Fort Walton Beach, Florida is scheduled to be sentenced on February 15th.

Search this Website