A civilian computer scientist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., is accused by federal prosecutors of involvement in a multi-year bid-rigging scheme to steer military contracts to a Utah company in exchange for kickbacks. (Sarah Post/U.S. Air Force)
Syracuse, N.Y. (Tribune News Service) — A civilian U.S. Department of Defense employee based in central New York state was involved in a multi-year bid-rigging scheme to steer military contracts to a Utah company in exchange for kickbacks, according to federal prosecutors.
The employee, a senior computer scientist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, N.Y., got more than $150,000 in items for personal use, including home renovation tools, tool bags and various Apple products, prosecutors said in court papers filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
The Utah company signed on a company owned by a family member of the defense employee as a subcontractor, prosecutors said. It additionally hired the employee’s spouse as a consultant and paid them $60,400.
The Central New York defense employee’s role in the scheme was revealed this week when a U.S. Navy official admitted to his part in the bid rigging.
The Navy official, Cho Y. Chang, pleaded guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Syracuse to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud.
Chang, a section head at the U.S. Naval Laboratory in Washington, faces a maximum of five years in prison.
Prosecutors did not name the central New York defense employee in court papers. The employee — listed as a co-conspirator in court papers — appears to not be facing any charges at this time.
The scheme is described in detail in a plea and cooperation agreement reached between Chang and federal prosecutors.
Chang received hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel reimbursements, as well as thousands more in personal items such as Apple iPhones and airline club memberships, prosecutors said.
Chang began working in 2022 to award contracts to the Utah company, which prosecutors did not name in court papers.
It received an $8.4 million contract in August 2022 and another the following year worth $39.5 million. It was set to receive a $98 million contract last year before the bid was suspended.
Prosecutors did not describe what services the Utah company was contracted to provide.
Chang’s jet-setting began months after the first contract was awarded.
Chang sent a reimbursement request in February 2023 for a one-week trip he and a government employee apparently took from Washington, D.C. to California and Hawaii.
The $21,060 trip in first class was actually with his spouse.
Another trip to Hawaii with his spouse, this time for $8,782, followed three months later.
On nearly two dozen trips, Chang “double-dipped” by also requesting reimbursement through an official government travel system.
Chang was allegedly working with two co-conspirators — an official at the Utah company and the defense employee based in Central New York.
The official at the Utah company apparently was well-known to Chang. They were a friend and former co-worker who was now in charge of the company’s business development.
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