5 Americans To Be Charged In Iraq Fraud
By CBS News Justice Department producer Stephanie Lambidakis
Five Americans, including military personnel, were charged with a massive fraud scheme for bilking more than $8 million in Iraq reconstruction money from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), according to a law enforcement official.
The charges include conspiracy, bribery, honest services fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and bulk cash smuggling. There are also charges for money laundering, false tax returns and forfeiture.
The lead defendant is a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve out of Utah who was stationed in Iraq. The others are a Lt. Colonel in the Reserves from Wisconsin, a Lt. Colonel from Trenton, NJ, a civilian based in Cyprus who lived in Romania, and a Defense Department contracting employee who was involved in the reconstruction.
The company involved is a construction and services company called Global Business Group, based in Iraq and Romania, which did work for both the CPA and the DOD.
The company allegedly bribed the military personnel with: business class tickets, liquor, jewelry, an SUV, sports car, RV, weapons and employment. In return, the military personnel steered reconstruction business to Global Business Group. The way they avoided detection is by keeping the contracts under $500,000. That is the threshold for having to put the contracts out for bids. The regional CPA offices could approve those "smaller" projects. The hub of this activity was in Hillah, Iraq.