Vet Milks the Military: $1M+ Scam

⏱ 3 min read

Donald Smith, a 75-year-old Pittsburgh contractor, is looking at serious federal time after a jury found him guilty of ripping off the U.S. military for over a million dollars. The scam unfolded between 2019 and 2023, with Smith’s company billing the Defense Logistics Agency for goods they never delivered. He then compounded the crime by failing to report the stolen money on his corporate tax returns.

Evidence presented at the five-day trial showed Smith’s company pocketed north of $1 million in fraudulent payments from the DLA, the military’s main supplier. It wasn’t just a one-off; the scheme continued for years, with Smith apparently banking on not getting caught. Jurors needed just two hours to deliver the guilty verdicts before Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan.

Each of the 13 wire fraud counts carries a potential 20-year sentence and a $500,000 fine – or twice the amount Smith stole. Add in the tax evasion charges, and he’s facing another 13 years plus another $2.6 million in fines. Sentencing is scheduled for a later date.

Federal prosecutors William Guappone and Barbara K. Doolittle secured the conviction, backed by a joint investigation from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), IRS-Criminal Investigation, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). They built a rock-solid case proving Smith knowingly defrauded the military and tried to hide the profits.