Micheline Pollock, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States, California 2022

A federal judge in San Diego has sentenced Micheline Pollock, a Canadian citizen and resident of the United Kingdom, to time served, approximately 30 months in prison, for conspiring to defraud the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Navy Facilities Engineering Command in connection with military and humanitarian construction projects across Africa.

Chief U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw also ordered Pollock to pay more than $7 million in restitution. Pollock was the CEO of Dover Vantage, a U.S. construction firm with its primary office in Dubai, which specialized in expeditionary projects in Africa.

Between 2011 and 2018, Dover Vantage won construction contracts for USACE and NAVFAC projects in Africa, including a maternity ward and a school for the deaf in Togo, and a military aircraft hangar in Niger. Pollock was arrested on September 22, 2020, in Tbilisi, Georgia by Georgian authorities based on a provisional arrest warrant issued at the request of the United States.

Pollock was in custody for approximately nine-months before she was extradited to the United States on June 18, 2021. As charged in a 98-count indictment, Pollock was accused of conspiring with others at Dover Vantage to defraud the United States. Pollock admitted in her plea agreement that she and her co-conspirators fraudulently represented that they had quality control plans and inspections, that they met these supposed quality control standards, and subsequently they falsely represented that work was done according to design specifications.

As a result of the fraudulent conduct, many of the structures built by Dover Vantage were so poorly constructed that they collapsed, including an aircraft hangar in Niger and a training facility in Senegal. The case is being investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman thanked the prosecution team and investigating agencies for their excellent work on this case. The special agents of the DoD Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service will continue to bring individuals who threaten our nation’s military readiness to justice, said Special Agent-in-Charge Stanley A. Newell.

This case arises out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Africa Strike Force initiative, developed to combat fraud and corruption as the United States expends military and humanitarian resources across Africa.

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