Lawsuit says Wall Street executive overcharged on contracts
Source: AP-Excite
By RICHARD LARDNER
WASHINGTON (AP) Two former employees of a helicopter company owned by a prominent Wall Street financier allege that she exploited a connection with an Army colonel to charge the U.S. government inflated prices for rotorcraft.
In documents filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alabama, the whistleblowers said Lynn Tilton offered the officer, Norbert Vergez, a lucrative job long before he retired from military service as a way of inducing him to make contract decisions favorable to her company, MD Helicopters of Mesa, Arizona.
Attorneys for Tilton have disputed the allegations, calling them weak and implausible.
In a separate but related move, Vergez, who went to work for Tilton after hanging up his uniform, has agreed to plead guilty to false statement and conflict of interest charges. The plea deal with U.S. government attorneys follows a lengthy Justice Department investigation into his stewardship of an Army acquisition office in Alabama and subsequent hiring by the flamboyant and outspoken Tilton.
FULL story at link.
In this 2010 photo provided by the U.S. Army, Col. Norbert Vergez, center, receives his charter to manage the Project Office for Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft (NSRWA) from the Program Executive Officer for Aviation, now Maj. Gen. William Crosby, right, and Randy Harkins, former deputy project manager NSRWA. On Tuesday, April 7, 2015, Vergez pleaded guilty to negotiating his post-military employment with a helicopter company that did business with the Defense Department office he managed. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)
Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150410/us--helicopter_deal_probe-whistleblower_lawsuit-2de04422f8.html
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Because isn't defrauding the government a more serious crime?
valerief
(53,235 posts)can peck at it as they please. It's their mad money.