Former Veterans Affairs Employee Admits Fraud, $1.3 Million in Kickbacks
Wall Street Journal
By Michael Calia
September 18, 2013
A former employee of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday admitted to engaging in a scheme to defraud the department as well as accepting nearly $1.3 million in kickbacks for contracts awarded to companies with which he had relationships, the Justice Department said.
Jarod Machinga, a 43-year-old resident of Hopewell, N.J., pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton to one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property.
Mr. Machinga has taken responsibility for his actions, said defense counsel Fortunado N. Perri. "He intends to make full restitution, and hopefully this will be the first step toward moving forward with his life," Mr. Perri added.
Mr. Machinga, who worked as a supervisory engineer at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center's West Orange, N.J., campus, worked with a person, identified by the Justice Department as "Individual 1," to set up three companies that could be used to get construction work from the VA.
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Showing posts with label federal investigation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal investigation. Show all posts
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Veterans Affairs agency under investigation for conference spending
Veterans Affairs agency under investigation for conference spending
By Lisa Rein
Washington Post
09:00 AM ET, 08/14/2012
The Department of Veterans Affairs spent $5 million—and set aside $4 million more — last year for two training conferences whose organizers are under investigation for breaking ethics rules by improperly accepting gifts, congressional committees and government sources said Monday.
The agency’s inspector general is investigating whether event planners and other organizers of the conference for human resources employees improperly accepted alcohol, concert tickets and spa treatments. Investigators also are looking into tens of thousands of dollars spent on promotional items for conference attendees, government sources said.
A total of about 1800 VA employees attended the four-day events, held in July and August 2011 at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, officials said.
The investigation comes four months after the General Services Administration was engulfed in scandal over a Las Vegas conference for the agency’s West Coast employees that cost $823,000. That four-day event, revealed by the GSA inspector general, was billed as a training exercise but was little more than an entertainment junket. The agency’s top leaders were fired or forced out as a result.
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By Lisa Rein
Washington Post
09:00 AM ET, 08/14/2012
The Department of Veterans Affairs spent $5 million—and set aside $4 million more — last year for two training conferences whose organizers are under investigation for breaking ethics rules by improperly accepting gifts, congressional committees and government sources said Monday.
The agency’s inspector general is investigating whether event planners and other organizers of the conference for human resources employees improperly accepted alcohol, concert tickets and spa treatments. Investigators also are looking into tens of thousands of dollars spent on promotional items for conference attendees, government sources said.
A total of about 1800 VA employees attended the four-day events, held in July and August 2011 at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, officials said.
The investigation comes four months after the General Services Administration was engulfed in scandal over a Las Vegas conference for the agency’s West Coast employees that cost $823,000. That four-day event, revealed by the GSA inspector general, was billed as a training exercise but was little more than an entertainment junket. The agency’s top leaders were fired or forced out as a result.
read more here
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