Army Corps of Engineers and subcontractors $20million in BMWs, Rolexes, TVs fraud

[Ichingcarpenter]

First, officials at the Army Corps of Engineers and technology company representatives got together and agreed to file inflated invoices for federal contracting services, prosecutors said.

Then they bought millions of dollars worth of BMWs, Rolex and Cartier watches, flat-screen televisions, first-class airline tickets and investment properties across the globe. Until they were arrested Tuesday, authorities said, they had their sights on another contract, one worth $780 million.

Four men — two program managers at the corps, a son of one of them and the director of contracts at a Dulles technology firm — were indicted on corruption-related charges that were made public Tuesday.

The arrests revealed what authorities described as one of the most audacious bribery scams they have investigated. With little oversight, corps officials and contractors easily manipulated an arcane and complex contracting system on a scale rarely seen, allowing them to fleece the government of about $20 million, authorities said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fraud-in-corps-of-engineers-contracting-charged/2011/10/04/gIQAPtb7LL_story.html


Privatize and reap the rewards.

[Faux pas]

1. I'm sure for every one of them, there's thousands more just

like them. Sheesh.

[Lasher]

2. Everything's always done best in the private sector.

Everybody knows that.