DOJ
(POC) — A global building materials manufacturer and its subsidiary pleaded guilty today to a one-count criminal information charging them with conspiring to provide material support and resources in Northern Syria from 2013 to 2014 to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and the al-Nusrah Front (ANF), both U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations. Immediately following the defendants’ guilty pleas, U.S. District Judge sentenced the defendants to terms of probation and to pay financial penalties, including criminal fines and forfeiture, totaling $777.78 million.
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A former civilian contractor for the U.S. Army was charged in an indictment unsealed today 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.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Special Agent Jozette Gillespie, Acting Director, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command's (CID) Major Procurement Fraud Unit and Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Craig Jr. of the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s (DCIS) Mid-Atlantic Field Office made the announcement.
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A defense contractor producing products and services for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan agreed to repay the government $27.5 million to settle overbilling charges brought under the False Claims Act.
“Contractors that knowingly bill the government in violation of contract terms will face serious consequences,” said acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce Branda. “The department will ensure that those who do business with the government, and seek taxpayer funds, do so fairly and in accordance with the applicable rules.”
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A former employee of a U.S. contractor was indicted today in the Eastern District of Texas for allegedly soliciting and accepting bribes in exchange for his influence in awarding U.S. government-funded contracts in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John Malcolm Bales of the Eastern District of Texas.
George E. Green, 57, of Carrollton, Texas, was charged with conspiracy to structure financial transactions to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements, wire fraud and receipt of bribes in connection with a program receiving federal funds.
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Supreme Foodservice GmbH, a privately held Swiss company, and Supreme Foodservice FZE, a privately-held United Arab Emirates (UAE) company, pleaded guilty today to major fraud against the United States and agreed to resolve civil violations of the False Claims Act, in connection with a contract to provide food and water to the U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan, the Justice Department announced today.
“The civil resolutions and agreements reflect the DOJ’s continuing efforts to hold accountable contractors that have engaged in war profiteering,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Joyce R. Branda for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will pursue contractors that knowingly seek taxpayer funds to which they are not entitled.”
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A former project manager of a U.S. construction company working on U.S. government contracts in Afghanistan who solicited a $60,000 kickback from an Afghan subcontractor pleaded guilty today in federal court in Tucson, Arizona. Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney John S. Leonardo of the District of Arizona made the announcement.
Robert L. Bertolini, 67, of Arivaca, Arizona, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and receive an illegal kickback. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 8, 2014. According to court documents, Bertolini worked for a construction company that received a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract to build a forward operating base for the Afghan National Army in Kabul Province, Afghanistan.
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According to the Justice Department announced today that Northrop Grumman Corp. has paid the United States $11.4 million to settle a government claim for penalties provided under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and False Claims Act allegations stemming from its failure to abide by a 2002 settlement agreement with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The government alleged that Northrop charged to its federal contracts certain costs for deferred compensation awards to key employees, even though it had promised not to do so as part of the earlier 2002 settlement.
“Federal contractors must abide by the obligations they accept when contracting with the government, including compliance with federal regulations restricting the types and amount of costs they can charge to their federal contracts,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division Stuart F. Delery. “The Department of Justice is committed to enforcing these fundamental obligations using every available tool, including FAR penalties assessed under the contract and, where appropriate, fraud-based counterclaims.”
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A former U.S. Army Sergeant and a co-conspirator have been sentenced in the District of Colorado for their roles in stealing fuel at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Fenty, Afghanistan, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division announced.
U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Weaver, 30, of Fort Carson, Colo., was sentenced on Oct. 28, 2013, to serve 37 months in prison. Weaver pleaded guilty Oct. 20, 2012, and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger.
Jonathan Hightower, 31, of Houston, Texas, who worked at FOB Fenty as a civilian employee of a contractor and who had conspired with Weaver, were also sentenced on Oct. 28, 2013, to serve 27 months in prison. He pleaded guilty Aug. 3, 2012, and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez.
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A Navy commander, a Naval criminal investigator and a defense contractor have been charged with conspiracy in a bribery scheme to gain millions in international port contracts, federal prosecutors said.
Leonard Francis was arrested this week in San Diego, Cmdr. Michael Misiewicz was arrested in Colorado, and NCIS Supervisory Special Agent John Beliveau II was arrested in Virginia, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement Tuesday night. Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery.
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Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) investigation of large-scale corruption in Afghanistan led to the Department of Justice freezing more than $63 million in U.S. government funds, allegedly obtained through fraudulent means, located in bank accounts held in Afghanistan and in correspondent banks in the United States and abroad. The bank accounts are owned by Hikmatullah Shadman, an Afghan trucking contractor, who according to court documents allegedly defrauded the U.S. of more than $77 million by charging inflated prices for trucking contracts to deliver U.S. military supplies. These trucking contracts were allegedly obtained through bribes, kickbacks, and bid-rigging, according to court papers.
"We are determined to use all possible means to recover stolen taxpayer money. I'm proud of my agents, who worked closely with the Department of Justice on this groundbreaking achievement. This hits the criminals where it hurts. SIGAR will stop at nothing to follow this money trail wherever it leads," said Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko.
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Defense contractor KBR headquartered in Houston, Texas must face claims that its employees took kickbacks while shipping military equipment to Iraq and Afghanistan. Under a 2001 logistics (LOGCAP) agreement, the U.S. Army had given KBR, a former Halliburton subsidiary previously known as Kellogg, Brown and Root, discrete tasks to fulfill, which it could do on its own or by hiring subcontractors.
KBR hired two subcontractors, EGL and Panalpina, to carry out its task of transporting military equipment and supplies to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait between 2002 and 2006. The government later accused KBR employees of accepting kickbacks from EGL and Panalpina to “obtain favorable treatment on subcontracts with KBR, such as overlooking service failures and continuing to award new subcontracts despite such failures" they said.
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The Eastern District of Virginia dismissed a False Claims Act complaint brought by the government and a whistleblower, finding that the government failed to adequately plead that it relied on allegedly false marksmanship tests when it paid a government contractor. U.S. ex rel. Badr v. Triple Canopy, Inc., Case No. 1:11-cv-288 (E.D. Va. June 19, 2013).
Triple Canopy had a contract with the government to provide security services at United States military bases in Al Asad, Iraq. As part of the contract, Triple Canopy was required to ensure that all of its personnel maintained certain weapons qualifications. Triple Canopy brought 332 guards from Uganda to work at the bases. According to the allegations of the complaint, it quickly became clear to Triple Canopy that the guards could not meet the minimum weapons qualification requirements. As a result, the complaint alleges, Triple Canopy began to falsify the guards’ scorecards.
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The chief executive officer of a Virginia-based security contracting firm was sentenced to serve four years in prison for serving as a figurehead owner of a front company created to obtain more than $31 million intended for disadvantaged small businesses through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) program, which allows qualified small businesses to receive sole-source and competitive-bid contracts set aside for minority-owned and disadvantaged small businesses, according the Department of Justice.
Dawn Hamilton, 48, of Brownsville, Md., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis III in the Eastern District of Virginia. In addition to her prison term, Hamilton was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit approximately $1,232,145 and pay an additional fine of $1 million. On March 15, 2013, Hamilton pleaded guilty to major government fraud.
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The outcome of a court battle between the Army and KBR over the final stages of LOGCAP III, the largest government services contract in U.S. history, could affect tens of thousands of federal contracts while creating “enormous uncertainty” for vendors and the government alike, according to the Justice Department.
The warning, delivered in the footnote of a recent U.S. Court of Federal Claims pleading, marks the latest development in a dispute to decide how to close out the 12-year-old, $38 billion military logistics contract supporting military operations in Iraq.
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A former contract employee of the U.S. Defense Department (DoD) was sentenced today to serve 35 months in prison for his participation in a bribery and money laundering scheme arising from corruption in the award of defense contracts at Camp Arifjan, an Army base in Kuwait, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Wajdi Birjas, 41, of Evansville, Ind., was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young in the Southern District of Indiana. In addition to his prison term, Birjas was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $650,000.
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The United States has filed a complaint against a Virginia-based contractor alleging that the company submitted false claims for unqualified security guards under a contract to provide security in Iraq, the Justice Department announced today. The company, Triple Canopy Inc. is headquartered in Reston, Va.
In June 2009, the Joint Contracting Command in Iraq/Afghanistan (JCC-I/A) awarded Triple Canopy a one-year, $10 million contract to perform a variety of security services at Al Asad Airbase – the second largest air base in Iraq. The multi-national JCC-I/A was established by U.S. Central Command in November 2004, to provide contracting support related to the government’s relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq.
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