William S. Wilson, Bribery and Kickback Conspiracy, Virginia 2022

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A Florida man was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for orchestrating a bribery and kickback conspiracy and committing fraud in connection with a contract for the U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG).

William S. Wilson, 56, of Florida, paid numerous kickbacks and bribes to a public official and two government contractors in return for those individuals corruptly steering business to Wilson's Florida-based companies.

The evidence presented at trial proved that Wilson paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to Mathew Kekoa LumHo, 46, of Fairfax Station, then employed at the DoD OIG. In return, LumHo took official actions that benefitted Wilson's companies. LumHo steered work to Wilson's company by placing fraudulent service orders through a government contract that LumHo controlled.

The evidence further proved that Wilson also paid numerous kickbacks to Ronald Capallia and Co-conspirator 1, then employees for a telecommunications company that was a prime contractor to the government. Wilson paid these kickbacks Capallia and Co-conspirator 1 to cause them to steer work and provide favorable treatment to Wilson's companies as subcontractors to the telecommunications company.

One of the key subcontracts steered to Wilson's company related to a prime contract between the telecommunications firm and the DoD OIG, in which the telecommunications firm was supposed to supply various information technology-related services to the government. Wilson's company was awarded this subcontract despite its lack of any relevant experience or expertise, and despite having no employees based in or near northern Virginia, where all the work was to be performed.

Wilson frequently disguised the bribes and kickbacks to Capallia, LumHo, and Co-conspirator 1 through fake invoices for services that were never provided, or by masking the payments as payroll to relatives of Capallia and LumHo for jobs that did not in fact exist.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/florida-man-sentenced-paying-bribes-and-kickbacks-and-defrauding-united-states