David Murar, Defense Contracting Fraud, Missouri 2024

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – David Murar, a 73-year-old former Defense Department contractor from St. Charles County, Missouri, has been sentenced for his crimes related to defense contracting fraud.

Murar was sentenced to five years of probation and fined $50,000 by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on March 12, 2024. This comes after Murar pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to the investigation, Murar obtained parts from China and other foreign countries, undercutting domestic suppliers, and provided diagrams of necessary parts and other "military critical technical data," which was restricted and protected information, to foreign individuals and/or entities to obtain those parts. He did so despite signing agreements not to provide access to that data to anyone other than his employees or other eligible persons and comply with U.S. export control laws and regulations.

The parts were sent to Murar’s home, and he then discarded their original packaging and repackaged them to conceal their origin overseas. Murar also fraudulently used his wife’s name to gain a competitive advantage for one of his companies by claiming it was a woman-owned small business, when he was really the actual owner and operator.

From roughly April through October of 2022, Murar bid on and received at least nine U.S. government contracts by way of fraudulent misrepresentations. Murar fraudulently obtained contracts worth at least $333,465 for parts including nuts, bolts, washers, sleeves, and tools. Murar owned three businesses: Midwest Metals, St. Louis Loft Metals, and Florence Metals.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cort VanOstran said in court that Murar’s crime "risked potential for danger to the United States Armed Forces." Murar had already been suspended from government contracting.

The Defense Logistics Agency must now obtain replacements from responsible contractors while the military services wait for parts to support their weapon systems. "It is, of course, always possible that the non-conforming parts make their way into weapon systems before DLA can identify them, which may affect safety and military readiness," the statement said. The agency said it does "not believe there is a way to quantify the harm, but the impacts to national security are nonetheless tangible and real."

Murar has already repaid $166,710. The case was investigated by the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, Fraud Field Office, and Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Drake and Cort VanOstran prosecuted the case.

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