DAVID MURAR SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS FOR FRAUD

ST. LOUIS, MO – In a shocking turn of events, David Murar, a 73-year-old Defense Department contractor from St. Charles County, Missouri, has been sentenced to 5 years of probation and fined $50,000 for illegally obtaining parts for the military overseas.

Murar, who has already repaid $166,710, undercut domestic suppliers by obtaining parts from China and other foreign countries. He violated the law by providing 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.

Murar’s actions were a clear violation of his signed 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. He also agreed to comply with laws and other restrictions requiring certain items purchased by the Defense Department to be domestically sourced.

The parts were sent to Murar’s home, where he discarded their original packaging and repackaged them to conceal their origin overseas. This blatant disregard for the law and his contractual obligations has left many wondering how he was able to get away with it for so long.

Murar’s scheme went beyond just illegally obtaining parts. He 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.

The Defense Logistics Agency has been left to pick up the pieces, obtaining 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 agency said in a statement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cort VanOstran said in court that Murar’s crime ‘risked potential for danger to the United States Armed Forces.’ Murar pleaded guilty in February in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He had already been suspended from government contracting.

Acting Special Agent in Charge Ryan Settle, DCIS Southwest Field Office, stated, ‘Today’s outcome demonstrates the commitment of the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), and our partners, to safeguard the DoD supply chain and ensure the safety of the warfighter.’

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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