An Israeli national was extradited from Bulgaria and arraigned on charges arising from his participation in multiple schemes to defraud a multi-billion dollar United States foreign aid program.

Yuval Marshak, a former owner and executive of an Israel-based defense contractor, carried out three separate schemes between 2009 and 2013 to defraud the Foreign Military Financing program (FMF) and used a company in the United States to launder some of the proceeds of his fraud.

Marshak and others falsified bid documents to make it appear that certain FMF contracts had been competitively bid when they had not, according to the indictment.

Marshak caused false certifications to be made to the United States Department of Defense stating that no commissions were being paid and no non-United States content was used in these contracts, when, in fact, Marshak had arranged to receive commissions and to have services performed outside the United States, all in violation of Defense Department rules and regulations.

Marshak arranged for these undisclosed commission payments to be made to a Connecticut-based company that was owned by a close relative to disguise the true nature and destination of these payments.

Earlier this year the Antitrust Division entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Octal Corp., a New Jersey-based defense contractor that received one of the FMF contracts at issue.

Octal acknowledged that its employees concealed the agreement to pay, and the payment of, the commission on the FMF contract the company received and falsely denied the commission in a written certification to the Department of defense.

Under the terms of this agreement, Octal agreed to cooperate in the division’s investigation and to pay a monetary penalty of $100,000 and $360,000 in restitution to the DOD.

The Antitrust Division also entered into a non-prosecution agreement with Hale Products Inc., a Florida-based company that received another FMF contract referenced in the indictment.

Hale acknowledged that, in connection with this FMF contract, its employees concealed the agreement to pay, and the payment of, the commission and falsely denied the commission in a written certification to the Department of Defense.

Hale agreed to cooperate in the division’s investigation and to pay a monetary penalty of $50,000 and $10,200 in restitution to the Department of Defense.

“By falsifying bid documents and receiving undisclosed side payments through a company in the United States, Marshak’s actions threatened the integrity of the FMF program, through which the United States government provides billions of dollars each year in foreign aid to countries around the world,” said Renata Hesse of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.  “Marshak’s extradition marks another step forward in our efforts to coordinate investigations with foreign authorities and is further evidence that the Antitrust Division will continue to vigorously pursue individuals and companies that compromise essential government programs regardless of where they reside.”