Two former employees of international engineering and construction firm Parsons Company have been sentenced in federal court for their participation in a kickback conspiracy in Iraq.
Billy Joe Hunt, 57, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $66,212 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and forfeiture of $236,472. Hunt, who was employed as a program manager by Parsons in Iraq, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and pay kickbacks, and one count of subscribing a false tax return.
Gaines R. Newell Jr., 53, was sentenced to 27 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $1,102,115 in restitution ($861,027 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and $241,088 to the IRS) and forfeiture of $861,027. Newell, who was employed as deputy program manager by Parsons in Iraq, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and to pay kickbacks, and one count of subscribing a false tax return.
According to court documents, Newell and Hunt took over $1 million in kickbacks from subcontractors from 2005 to 2007, in return for arranging to award contracts on the Coalition Munitions Clearance Program to subcontractors. The program, operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, sought to preclude insurgents and other unfriendly groups from getting munitions that had been stockpiled, abandoned or seized, and using them against Coalition forces or the Iraqi public.
Newell and Hunt also admitted filing false federal income tax returns by not disclosing kickback income. Their co-conspirator, Ahmed Sarchil Kazzaz, 45, pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme. Kazzaz and his business, Leadstay Company, were indicted in the Northern District of Alabama in September 2011 for paying over $947,000 in kickbacks to Newell and Hunt.
Prosecutors said that between March 2006 and June 2007, Kazzaz agreed to pay kickbacks to Newell and Hunt totaling 13 percent of the amounts paid by Parsons, and thus obtained over $23 million in subcontracts providing materials and equipment to Parsons. Kazzaz is set to be sentenced on October 29, 2012, before U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner in the Central District of California.
The cases are being prosecuted by Catherine Votaw, Director of Procurement Fraud for the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Estes of the Northern District of Alabama. The investigation was handled by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the IRS-Criminal Investigations Division and the FBI.
Related Federal Cases
Key Facts
- State: Alabama
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
🔒 Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
Browse More
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
US NewsUS NewsUS NewsUS News