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Augusta man sentenced for theft of government funds

July 9, 2018 By Nancy Cleveland

U.S. Attorney Sherri A. Lydon states that Phillip Thompson of Augusta, GA was sentenced for conspiracy involving theft of government funds, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, § 371.

U.S. District Judge J. Michelle Childs, of Columbia, SC sentenced Thompson to 23 months in jail after a sentencing hearing. The judge further ordered that Thompson repay $4,580,469.83 in restitution and, after his release from the Bureau of Prisons, that he serve three years on supervised release.

Facts presented in court established that Thompson worked at the Savannah River Site for Wise Services, and that, beginning in September of 2009 and continuing for several years, Thompson was involved in a scheme in which he and a co-defendant stole money using false and fraudulent invoices. An investigation by the U. S. Dept. of Energy’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that Thompson and his co-defendant stole more than six million dollars.

April G. Stephenson, Acting Inspector General for the Dept. of Energy, states: “The Office of Inspector General remains committed to ensuring the integrity of our contractors and subcontractors. Those who choose to abuse their positions of trust while hiding behind sophisticated embezzlement and fraud schemes, will be held accountable.”

The Energy Department’s OIG and the FBI investigated the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John C. Potterfield of the Columbia, SC office prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sc/pr/augusta-man-sentenced-theft-government-funds

Read The Augusta Chronicle’s account of this story at: http://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20180703/columbia-county-man-gets-23-months-in-prison-in-mox-fraud-case

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: conviction, DOJ, Energy Dept., false invoice, FBI, fraudulent invoice, IG, Justice Dept., OIG, Savannah River Plant, theft

DoD contractor to pay $4.6 million to settle false claims at Fort Benning and Fort Bliss

September 30, 2015 By Nancy Cleveland

L-3 Communications Corporation, Vertex Aerospace LLC and L-3 Communications Integrated Systems LP (collectively L-3) have agreed to pay $4.63 million to resolve allegations that they inflated labor hours for time spent by independent contractors at the military’s Continental U.S. Replacement Centers (CRC) in Fort Benning, Georgia, and Fort Bliss, Texas, preparing to deploy to overseas posts to support U.S. military operations abroad.  The CRCs prepare individuals for deployment by providing orientation briefings, training, health screenings, payroll processing and addressing other administrative matters.

Justice Dept. seal“The Justice Department is committed to vigorously pursuing all those who knowingly submit false claims under government contracts,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.  “Contractors that seek taxpayer funds must be scrupulous in their billing, and invoice only for work and amounts permitted by their contracts.”

L-3 performed rotary aviation maintenance and support services for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait under contracts with the U.S. Air Force.  The United States alleges that from 2006 through November 2011, L-3 knowingly overcharged the government for time their independent contractors spent at the CRCs by billing for each individual not based on the actual time that individual spent at the CRC, but based instead on the earliest arrival or latest departure time of any other individual who also processed through the center that same day.

“Contractors owe a duty to the taxpayers to accurately bill the United States for the actual work performed,” said U.S. Attorney John Horn of the Northern District of Georgia.  “This settlement demonstrates our commitment to hold contractors accountable for false billing and restore wrongfully taken funds to the military.”

“This collaborative investigative effort reflects the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s commitment to protecting American taxpayers’ interests by ensuring integrity and accountability throughout the Defense contracting system,” said Special Agent in Charge John F. Khin of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) Southeast Field Office.

“Today’s settlement is a testament to the hard work of our special agents and also highlights the importance of the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act,” said Director Frank Robey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit.  “In this particular case, a concerned citizen wasn’t afraid to speak up, alerted the proper authorities, and helped save the U.S. government millions of dollars.”

The allegations settled today arose from a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower, Robert A. Martin, a former L-3 independent contractor, under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  Under the act, private citizens can bring suit on behalf of the government for false claims and share in any recovery.  Mr. Martin will receive $798,675 from the recovery announced today.

This case was handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Georgia, with the assistance of DCIS, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.

The lawsuit is captioned United States ex rel. Martin v. L-3 Communications Corp., et al., 1:10-CV-1622-CAP (N.D. Ga.).  The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/defense-contractor-agrees-pay-463-million-settle-overcharging-allegations

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: corruption, DCAA, DCIS, DoD, DOJ, false claims, False Claims Act, false invoice, fraud, Justice Dept., overbill, qui tam, whistleblower

More heads to roll in ‘Fat Leonard’ Navy scandal

December 31, 2013 By ei2admin

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Friday that he expected more damning revelations about the way the service conducts business to come out of the ongoing investigation of the alleged fraudulent activities of Glenn Defense Marine Asia and its chief executive, Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis.

“It’s fair to say there will be more disclosures coming” and more top officers coming under suspicion in the contracting for port services for Navy ships worldwide, Mabus said at a Pentagon briefing. “I certainly don’t think we’ve seen the end of it.”

“I expect to continue to see headlines” in the felony fraud case involving bribes and prostitutes in which Francis currently is out on bail and under house arrest in San Diego, Mabus said.

“I would rather get bad headlines than let bad people get away,” Mabus said.

While condemning the fraud, Mabus hailed the Navy’s response. He said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service began to suspect that one of its agents, John Beliveau II, was tipping off Francis about Navy inquiries on his firm in exchange for luxury trips and prostitutes.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/12/20/more-heads-to-roll-in-fat-leonard-navy-scandal/ 

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: bribe, bribery, False Claims Act, false invoice, fraud, Navy, scandal, sting

Navy contractor from Georgia sentenced in $18 million scheme

December 11, 2013 By ei2admin

The founder of a U.S. Navy contractor from Georgia must serve three years in prison for his part in a kickback scheme that cost the Navy $18 million, a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered Wednesday.

Anjan Dutta-Gupta, of Roswell, Ga., founder of Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow, or ASFT, is the fourth person to be sentenced in a federal probe into a 15-year scheme led by former civilian Navy employee Ralph M. Mariano. Dutta-Gupta pleaded guilty in 2011 to bribery and was not sentenced until Wednesday while he cooperated with the investigation.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi matched the recommendation of both prosecutors and the defense, who said Dutta-Gupta’s extensive cooperation almost immediately after he was charged meant he should be shown some leniency. Otherwise, he could have faced as much as 15 years in prison.

Mariano worked for the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., and was most recently based at the Navy Yard in Washington. He had the power to approve payments on Navy contracts and used it to sign off on false invoices submitted by ASFT and subcontractors, which would then funnel kickbacks to Mariano and others. ASFT, which also had offices in Middletown, R.I., went under soon after the charges were brought.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/crime/ga-navy-contractor-to-be-sentenced-in-18m-scheme/ncBJY/

Filed Under: Contracting News Tagged With: contract payments, false invoice, fraud, kickback, Navy

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