theft | The Contracting Education Academy

June 20, 2016 By AMK

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 AMK

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

March 31, 2016 By AMK

Former NIH employee gets 21 months in prison for unauthorized use of GPC

Francesca M. Daniele was sentenced to 21 months in prison plus three years of supervised release for wire fraud in connection with the misuse of her government purchase card (GPC). She also was ordered on March 25, 2016 to forfeit and pay restitution of $22,338.67, the amount of loss resulting from her conduct.

In July 2014, Daniele worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), purchasing equipment from vendors and administering contracts on behalf of NIH. According to her plea agreement, during the period of July 12 to 28, 2014, Daniele used her government-issued credit card to fraudulently make approximately $21,830.19 of personal purchases at retail stores. She used her cell phone to call the credit card’s customer service center to approve those purchases. In an attempt to conceal the scheme, Daniele falsely reported that her credit card had been lost.

Additionally, on October 15, 2014, Daniele opened a credit card account in the name of her minor child. She used the credit card to buy a laptop computer, video game console, a ring and other items, all of which were shipped to a hotel room she rented under an assumed name. Daniele did not pay for several of the items, resulting in a loss to the credit card company of approximately $508.48.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/former-nih-employee-sentenced-prison-using-her-government-credit-card-unauthorized

November 12, 2015 By AMK

GSA official jailed for accepting bribes and stealing property

Timothy Francis Cashman, a Building Manager for the General Services Administration (“GSA”), has been sentenced to 16 months in custody for accepting bribes and stealing property owned by the United States.

At a sentencing hearing on Oct. 23, 2015, Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel noted that Cashman was a religious man who performed many good deeds and selfless acts throughout his life. Nevertheless, he told the packed courtroom of friends, family, and supporters who requested leniency for Cashman that it was vital the general public understood that “quid pro quo is not the status quo; quid pro quo is not acceptable.”

During the sentencing, the government demonstrated how Cashman used his position with GSA (overseeing operations and maintenance at the Otay Mesa, San Ysidro, and Tecate Ports of Entry) for his personal enrichment; rather than to fulfill GSA’s core mission of delivering “the best value in real estate, acquisition, and technology services to government and the American people.”

Over a number of years, Cashman provided favorable treatment relating to the awarding of GSA contracts. For example, he demanded $10,000 in cash and thousands of dollars’ worth of construction and renovation services on Cashman’s personal residence from government contractor Hugo Alonso Inc. (“HAI”). These services included having HAI paint Cashman’s Lakeside home and replace his roof and windows free of charge.

The former GSA building manager also demanded that HAI pay another government contractor (Company “A”) $120,000 in exchange for HAI being awarded a GSA construction contract at the Otay Mesa POE. Subsequently, Cashman accepted six checks from Company “A” totaling $42,000, which he deposited into his personal account. All of the income he received from HAI was concealed from the IRS when submitting his federal income tax returns.

In addition to accepting bribes from HAI, Cashman improperly obtained thousands of dollars in valuable United States Government building materials for his own benefit by causing GSA contractors and others to remove and transport such materials away from GSA facilities where he could sell or use them without the knowledge of GSA. Among other things, Cashman instructed government contractors: 1) in March 2011, to load approximately 25 stainless steel panels located at the San Ysidro POE into his personal Ford truck; 2) in January 2012, to load 35 heavy brass letters (spelling out “United States Border Inspection Station” and weighing approximately 2,000 pounds) into his personal truck; 3) in December 2012, to collect approximately 3,000 feet of underground copper cable belonging to the United States and to deliver it to, among other places, his personal residence; and 4) in November 2013, to set aside for his personal sale a large quantity of underground copper cable and approximately 5 aluminum panels located at the Otay Mesa POE.

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy remarked that the Cashman case demonstrates that combatting public corruption in all its forms will remain one of her office’s highest priorities. She also thanked the Special Agents with the FBI, IRS-CI and GSA-OIG whose tireless work both uncovered this corruption and resulted in removing the corrupt official from the government fisc.

In addition to his custodial sentence, Cashman was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $50,057.32 in restitution. HAI, and its principal, Hugo Alonso, previously pleaded guilty and were sentenced. In total, 11 individuals have been apprehended and pleaded guilty in related corruption investigations.

September 18, 2012 By AMK

Retired Army master sergeant and wife convicted of theft and money-laundering through illegal requisitions

Five years of false requisitions worth $2.7 million from Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services have led to convictions on several charges for a retired Army master sergeant and his wife.

Francisco Javier De La Maza and his wife, Gabriela De La Maza, were sentenced Aug. 30 in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas, in San Antonio. Francisco was sentenced to 40 months confinement and 36 months of probation based on a guilty plea to one count of theft of government property and one count of conspiracy to money launder. Gabriela was sentenced to 60 months of probation based on a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to money launder.

The two were also jointly sentenced to forfeiture of $860,863.07 for restitution and forfeiture of four pieces of real property with an appraised value of $672,000.

Restitution will go to DLA Disposition Services as the victim of the fraud, explained Supervisory Special Agent Kathy Roberts, Western Region chief for the DLA Office of the Inspector General.

Between late 2004 and his retirement in 2009, Francisco De La Maza made illegal requisitions from DLA Disposition Services on behalf of his Army unit, at Fort Hood, Texas, Roberts said. Items requisitioned and later sold for the De La Mazas’ personal profit included: computers, computer equipment and uniforms, Roberts said.

In early 2010, a DLA Disposition Services employee in San Antonio contacted her local DLA IG office to report suspicions about Francisco De La Maza’s requisitions. Tami Hooker, senior special agent for the DLA OIG, began an investigation that eventually included the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Army Criminal Investigation Command, Roberts said. The U.S. Department of Justice Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas handled the prosecution.

DLA Disposition Services’ primary mission is to make equipment and material that are no longer needed by one unit available to other units. Roberts said that aside from the monetary loss to DLA Disposition Services, the De La Mazas’ actions also potentially hurt other military units because the illegally requisitioned material wasn’t available through DLA Disposition Services.

She also praised the attentiveness of the DLA Disposition Services employee who came forward with her concerns.

“In this case, an employee thought something suspicious was going on,” Roberts said. “She didn’t know the whole story, but it was enough to make us look further.”

Roberts said DLA OIG agents often talk to agency employees about the IG role, and their main message to the workforce is to alert their local DLA IG office to any suspicions of wrongdoing.

“If you notice anything suspicious, call us, even if it’s the smallest thing,” she said.

— by Kathleen T. Rhem, DLA News, Sept. 7, 2012 at http://www.dla.mil/DLA_Media_Center/Pages/newsarticle201209071414.aspx.

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.

Timothy Francis Cashman, a Building Manager for the General Services Administration (“GSA”), has been sentenced to 16 months in custody for accepting bribes and stealing property owned by the United States.

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