Jim A. Meron, a 54-year-old man from Granite Bay, pleaded guilty to wire fraud related to a government-procurement fraud scheme in a Sacramento courtroom on .
According to court documents, between May 2011 and July 2017, Meron used two office supply businesses he operated to defraud federal government agencies out of as much as $3.5 million in thousands of transactions. He substituted and delivered cheaper, generic versions of expensive, name-brand products his customers ordered, and pocketed the price difference.
As part of his plea, Meron agreed to forfeit more than $1.7 million in assets seized during the investigation of his crimes. His companies, WOW Imaging Products LLC and Time Enterprises LLC, contracted to sell office supplies to federal agencies through two web-based government sales portals, GSA Advantage and DOD EMall.
After Meron received payments for the premium products his customers ordered, he obtained compatible products from his suppliers that cost him a fraction of what his customer paid for the brand-name products they ordered. Meron then substituted and delivered those cheaper products for the more expensive products his customers ordered, and retained the difference in cost.
Meron’s scheme extended to nearly all orders for name-brand products, and he never intended to deliver what his customers ordered. The case is the product of an investigation by the General Services Administration Office of Inspector General and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys André M. Espinosa and Kevin Khasigian are prosecuting the case. Meron faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count of conviction. The actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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