CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Department
of Defense Contractor Gets Nine Years in Prison for Iraq Bribery
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 6, January 29, 2007
A former Department of Defense contractor was sentenced to nine years in prison
and ordered to forfeit $3.6 million for his role in a bribery and fraud scheme
involving contracts in the reconstruction of Iraq.
Robert J. Stein, 52, of Fayetteville, N.C. was sentenced in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
The judge also sentenced Stein to three years of supervised release.
Stein was arrested in Fayetteville on Nov. 14, 2005, and pled guilty on February 2, 2006 to a variety of charges, including bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy in connection with a scheme to defraud the Coalition Provisional Authority – South Central Region (CPA-SC) in al-Hillah, Iraq.
"Robert Stein will now spend nine years in jail for exploiting his public position and accepting bribes for contracts during the rebuilding of Iraq," said Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher.
Stein admitted to participating in a complex bribery, fraud and money laundering scheme while serving as the comptroller and funding officer for the CPA-SC.
Philip H. Bloom, a U.S. citizen who owned and operated several companies in Iraq and Romania, Bruce D. Hopfengardner, a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, and numerous public officials, including several high-ranking U.S. Army officers, conspired to rig the bids on contracts being awarded by the CPA-SC so that all of the contracts were awarded to Bloom.
Federal officials alleged that in return, Bloom provided the public officials with over $1 million in cash, SUVs, sports cars, a motorcycle, jewelry, computers, business class airline tickets, liquor, future employment with Bloom, and other items of value.
In addition, Bloom laundered over $2 million in currency that Stein and the others stole from the CPA-SC – money that had been designated to be used for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Bloom then used his foreign bank accounts in Iraq, Romania and Switzerland to send the stolen money to Stein, Hopfengardner and other public officials in return for the awarded contracts.
In total, Bloom received over $8.6 million in rigged contracts.
Stein has cooperated with the government's investigation.
On March 10, 2006, Bloom, pled guilty to related charges of conspiracy, bribery and money laundering in connection with the same scheme as Stein.
Bloom is scheduled to be sentenced on February 16, 2007.
On August 25, 2006, Hopfengardner pled guilty to related charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the same scheme as Bloom and Stein.
Hopfengardner
is scheduled for a status conference on March 23, 2007.
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