Mail, wire fraud contractor's guilty plea deal includes 6.5 years max sentence | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC
Columbus Ohio Dump Truck Company Brief:
- Prosecutors and Milwaukee-area construction columbus oh dump truck company owner Brian Ganos, who was indicted last year for federal contracting fraud, have signed off on a plea agreement.
- If the judge agrees to the deal, Ganos will spend a maximum of 78 months in prison for creating sham minority and veteran-owned businesses that won more than $200 million in federal set-aside contracts.
- Ganos, owner and president of Sonag Co., pleaded guilty to two charges — one for mail fraud and the other for wire fraud. The remaining 22 charges against Ganos and all of those against Sonag will be dropped as part of the agreement.
- Ganos has also agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and forfeit almost $2 million in cash, as well as real estate, personal property and other income and assets. If the judge decides not to abide by the terms of the plea agreement, Ganos could face up to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release for each of the two charges.
Dump Trucks Columbus OH Insight:
Ganos is not the only player in this scheme to face legal action; the individuals put in place as figureheads of the companies he controlled pleaded guilty soon after the original indictments.
Also making its way through the federal courts is the case of Matthew McPherson, a Kansas-based contractor who was not entitled to earn federal set-aside contracts but established front companies to do so. McPherson pleaded guilty earlier this month to starting two construction companies with the intent for one to win contracts meant for service-disabled veterans and minorities and the other to compete for columbus oh dump truck company as a small business. McPherson installed individuals in both enterprises, taking in $346 million along the way, in order to fulfill disadvantaged program requirements, while he actually controlled the businesses.
There is typically a shortage of certified minority columbus oh dump truck company at federal, state and local levels, leaving a gap into which fraudsters can step. Sometimes it's not until a specific complaint from a whistleblower within the columbus oh dump truck company or from a competitor surfaces that the authorities are armed with enough information to take action.
One way to head off this type of fraud is for compliance staff in government contracting offices to meet face to face with applicants and, if possible, develop personal relationships with them, Thomson Reuters reported. It's this, along with technology, vigilance and effective employee training, that can go a long way in reducing the billions the government has lost to those trying to game the system through disadvantaged business programs.