Articles Posted in White Collar Crime Highlights

On June 10, 2005, Levonda J. Selph, a retired colonel in the U.S. Army, pled guilty to charges of conspiracy and bribery for her role in influencing Department of Defense (“DOD”) contracts at Camp Victory, Iraq in 2004 and 2005. In addition to pleading guilty, Lieutenant Colonel Selph agreed to serve a term of imprisonment…

On June 5, 2008, Charles N. Kriss, a former New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services engineer, was indicted for his role in a conspiracy to commit bribery by a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Inslip, NY. The Department of Justice accused Mr. Kriss of accepting bribes from a co-conspirator…

On June 3, 2008, Steven L. Berman, a Maryland tax lien agent, pled guilty and agreed to pay $750,000 for his role in rigging bids in tax lien auctions in several Maryland counties. Mr. Berman is likely to face a period of incarceration up to 10 years. If a property owner in Maryland fails to…

On June 3, 2008, Raman International Inc. (“Raman”), a defense contractor, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. It agreed to pay the maximum criminal fine for a corporation charged with conspiracy to commit bribery of $500,000 and restitution fees amounting to $327,192 to the Department of Defense (“DOD”). According to the…

On May 30, 2008, as a part of their ongoing investigation into the military restraints industry, the DOJ reached a plea agreement with Wilson Freire, a former government contracts manager at Peck & Hale LLC. Mr. Freire pled guilty to two separate conspiracies of bid rigging and taking kickbacks on contracts taken in connection with…

On May 29, 2008, Anthony M. Tesvich, a former employee of Home Depot, was charged with three counts of tax evasion and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to the Department of Justice, the conspiracy took place from October 2002 to October 2007. Mr. Tesvich took kickbacks from various foreign vendors seeking…

On May 15, 2008, Durwanda Elizabeth Morgan Heinrich, a dirt, sand, and gravel subcontractor, and Kern Carver Bernard Wilson, a former contract employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, were each charged with one count of conspiring to commit bribery. Additionally, Heinrich was charged with two counts of offering a bribe to a public…

On May 8, 2008, Bruce McCaffrey, Quantas Airways’ Vice President of Freight for the Americas, pled guilty and agreed to serve eight months in jail as well as pay a criminal fine of $20,000 for his role in a conspiracy to fix rates for international cargo shipments. Mr. McCaffrey was the highest ranking Quantas Airways…

On April 23, 2008, the former senior vice president of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (“BMS”), Andrew Bodnar, was indicted for his false statements to the federal government in its investigation into a patent settlement involving a blood-thinning drug used by patients of heart attack and stroke called Plavix. Mr. Bodnar agreed to plead guilty and pay…

On April 17, 2008, Charles J. Gillespie, a former executive of Italy based Manuli Rubbers Industries SpA, pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices, and allocate market shares of marine hose in the United States. Mr. Gillespie also agreed to serve 12 months and one day in jail and pay…