Theft | The Contracting Education Academy

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 9, 2018 By cs

Two men face federal charges for their role in stealing government property

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler has announced that two men are facing federal charges for their role in stealing Humvee vehicles that were meant to be destroyed and sold for scrap.

Richard S. Treloar, 63, St. Louis, Missouri, faces seven counts of conversion of government property and seven counts of false statements; co-defendant Mark W. Collier 52, Bedford, Indiana, faces seven counts of false statements.

“Theft, waste, fraud and abuse of government funds and equipment is never acceptable,” said Minkler. “When it involves stealing from our military, it is a particularly egregious offense and those responsible will be held accountable.”

Treloar owned a St. Louis based company called Treloar Enterprises International, Inc. (TEI) which contracted with the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to demilitarize military vehicles, mostly High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles commonly known as Humvees. The Humvee is a four-wheel drive military light truck capable of being outfitted with armor, ballistic glass and high-powered weapons and is currently being used in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters.

As part of Treloar’s contract with DLA, his company was responsible for demilitarizing the Humvees which would include eliminating the functional capabilities and inherent design features of vehicles. In many cases, that included the total destruction of the Humvee. When the Humvees were demilitarized, both Treloar and Collier verified in writing that the process had been completed.

From January 2014, through November 2015, TEI took delivery of all Humvees from Naval Support Activity Crane (Crane) which is located in Southern Indiana. To facilitate the contract, TEI opened a facility in nearby Spencer, Indiana, where the purported demilitarization took place. The indictment alleges Treloar converted at least seven fully armored Humvees for his own use and sold or attempted to sell them for his own benefit. The value of the Humvees was over $589,000. Both defendants also certified that each and every Humvee was demilitarized, when in fact they were not.

This case was investigated by DoD’s Office of Inspector General-Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Services, and Defense Logistics Agency’s Office of the Inspector General.

“Today’s indictments demonstrate the commitment of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and its law enforcement partners to protect the integrity of all Department of Defense programs,” said Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin, Southeast Field Office. “DCIS’ efforts in this investigation mitigated further significant loss and waste of taxpayer dollars from this fraudulent scheme.”

“Not only is fraud of this type a serious financial crime, the equipment involved is concerning,” said Mike Wiest, Special Agent in Charge of the NCIS Southeast Field Office. “There are no legitimate civilian uses for an armored military vehicle. NCIS will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who siphon resources away from America’s warfighters.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bradley P. Shepard who is prosecuting this case for the government, said Treloar faces up to 10 years’ imprisonment on each count of conversion of government property and Collier faces up to five years’ imprisonment on each count of false statements.

An indictment is only a charge and not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven otherwise in federal court.

In October 2017, U.S. Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced a Strategic Plan designed to shape and strengthen the District’s response to its most significant public safety challenges. This prosecution demonstrates the Office’s firm commitment to prosecuting complex, large-scale fraud schemes, particularly those that exploit positions of trust.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/two-men-face-federal-charges-their-role-stealing-government-property

January 16, 2018 By cs

Former NSA contractor admits to stealing confidential documents

A former National Security Agency contractor at the center of one of several pending leak cases has pleaded guilty to one of 20 counts he faces for removing classified information from the agency and storing those documents in his home for decades.

Harold Martin III, 52, was arrested in August 2016 and later indicted on 20 counts of willful retention of national defense information. According to the indictment, over the course of 23 years working as a contractor for the intelligence community, Martin took documents from the agencies he was working for and kept them in his Maryland home, some of which included top secret and sensitive compartmented information.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/01/former-nsa-contractor-admits-stealing-confidential-documents/144956/

Background on this story can be found in this 2016 New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/us/harold-martin-nsa.html

June 20, 2016 By cs

Former GSA official and husband indicted in $1.3 million government contracting scheme

Prosecutors said the $1.3 million federal government contracting scheme was a family affair.

A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a former General Services Administration (GSA) official and her husband on charges of conspiring to skirt contracting rules to hire family members and the relative of another employee.

Prosecutors said Helen “Renee” Ballard, a former GSA contracting office director, and her husband, a former employee of the Arlington, Virginia-based federal contractor, CACI Inc., used their positions to place relatives on a contract that Ballard supervised.

The couple, who live in Brandywine, Maryland, were indicted on charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and false statements.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-couple-indicted-in-13-million-government-contracting-scheme/2016/06/14/e18b475e-3278-11e6-95c0-2a6873031302_story.html

See Justice Department press release at: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-director-general-services-administration-division-and-husband-indicted-fraud-and

May 18, 2016 By cs

Former Marine Corps contracting officer sentenced to 37 months for conspiracy

A former Marine Corps captain who served as a contracting officer has been sentenced to 37 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

David G. Liu was charged with Conspiracy to Violate the Procurement Integrity Act, a charge he plead guilty to earlier this year.

During the offense period, Liu served at the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) in Djibouti, Africa. As a contracting officer, LIU was entrusted to evaluate bid proposals from potential suppliers and to award government contracts that were the most appropriate and advantageous for the needs of CJTF-HOA.

A Federal investigation into Liu’s activities revealed that from September 2012 until January 2013, he and two government contractors conspired to exchange and use protected procurement information of competitors for the purpose of mounting successful bids for a $495,000 Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA). The BPA was established by the U.S. Navy for the procurement of multimedia services in Somalia.

The investigation revealed that Liu was closely associated with the contractors and sought to abuse his position of trust as a Marine Corps contracting officer for his and their personal gain. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Liu unlawfully provided the contractors with protected bid information submitted by competing firms that were actively seeking BPA awards. The contractors, in turn, used the stolen bid information to craft their own proposals and undercut the competitors’ pricing and other terms. After all the bids were submitted to CJTF-HOA and were pending Liu’s evaluation, he solicited his co-conspirators to assist him in paying down a debt he owed to a supplier on an unrelated and unauthorized “side deal” for two government vehicles. The scheme included Liu’s creation of a sham government contract for the vehicles worth $28,000, the awarding of the contract to the Ugandan contractor, and the diversion of the resulting government funds back to Liu through a complex series of pre-ordained international wires and withdrawals.

The government contractors with whom Liu conspired were based in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and Kampala, Uganda, respectively. Contractor Monroe Allen Stueber, Jr. pled guilty to one count of unlawfully obtaining procurement information on October 15, 2015 and was sentenced to 3 years of probation on February 23, 2016.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/former-marine-corps-contracting-officer-sentenced-37-months-conspiracy

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.

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler has announced that two men are facing federal charges for their role in stealing Humvee vehicles that were meant to be destroyed and sold for scrap.

A former National Security Agency contractor at the center of one of several pending leak cases has pleaded guilty to one of 20 counts he faces for removing classified information from the agency and storing those documents in his home for decades.

Prosecutors said the $1.3 million federal government contracting scheme was a family affair.

A former Marine Corps captain who served as a contracting officer has been sentenced to 37 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release.

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