A Florida couple has been convicted of their roles in a bribery and fraud scheme involving federal procurement contracts. Sylvester Zugrav, 70, of Sarasota, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and procurement fraud, while his wife Maria Zugrav, 67, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony related to her efforts to conceal the conspiracy.
The Zugravs were charged in an indictment returned on October 12, 2011, along with Jose Mendez, 51, of Farr West, Utah, a procurement program manager for the U.S. Air Force Foreign Materials Acquisition Support Office (FMASO) at Hill Air Force Base, in Ogden, Utah. Mendez was charged with conspiracy, bribery, and procurement fraud, and has since pleaded guilty to all charges and agreed to forfeit more than $180,000 he received as part of the bribery scheme and awaits sentencing.
According to court documents, the Zugravs owned Atlas International Trading Company, a business that contracted to provide foreign military materials to the U.S. government through FMASO. In his plea agreement, Sylvester Zugrav admitted that, from 2008 through August 2011, he gave Mendez more than $180,000 in bribe payments, and offered Mendez more than $1.05 million in additional bribe payments contingent upon Atlas’s receipt of future contracts with FMASO.
In exchange for Sylvester Zugrav’s bribe payments and offers, Mendez ensured that Atlas and Sylvester Zugrav received favorable treatment in connection with procurement contracts, including, among other things, assisting Atlas in obtaining and maintaining procurement contracts; assisting Atlas in receiving payments on such contracts; and providing Atlas with contract bid or proposal information or source selection information before the award of procurement contracts.
Maria Zugrav admitted that she was aware of Sylvester Zugrav’s bribe payments to Mendez and assisted with concealment of the crime. According to court records, Sylvester Zugrav provided bribe payments to Mendez in three ways: cash payments via Federal Express to Mendez’s residential address; in-person payments of cash and other things of value; and electronic wire transfers to a bank account in Mexico opened by and in the name of Mendez’s cousin.
Between November 2009 and August 2011, Sylvester Zugrav sent nine FedEx packages to Mendez’s home address, each containing $5,000 in cash except the last package, which contained $3,000, which was seized by law enforcement. Maria Zugrav assisted her husband and Mendez’s bribe scheme by limiting cash withdrawals from Atlas’ bank account to not more than $5,000 to avoid scrutiny by banking officials and law enforcement.
As part of the corrupt scheme, Mendez opened a foreign bank account so that Sylvester Zugrav could pay Mendez larger bribe payments. Mendez asked his cousin in Mexico to open an account there. After the account was opened by Mendez’s cousin, Maria Zugrav made wire transfers to the bank account located in Mexico in the name of Mendez’s cousin to avoid detection of the larger bribe payments by law enforcement. From 2008 through August 2011, Maria Zugrav sent 10 wire transfers to the Mexico account.
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Key Facts
- State: Utah
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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