Scammers made millions in small biz frauds

• Three men are being prosecuted in connection with an alleged conspiracy to unlawfully represent their company as minority-owned and an SDVOSB to win $346 million in federal contracts, among other related charges.

        Patrick Michael Dingle of Parkville, MO; Matthew L. Torgeson of Topeka, KS, and Matthew C. McPherson of Olathe, KS are accused of fraudulently obtaining nearly 200 set-aside contracts. Read more at https://bit.ly/2Lqdaqe.

• Matthew Barrow of Toledo, OH was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on the charge of paying $800,000 in bribes to win $21 million in contracts with the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command headquartered in Aberdeen, MD.

        Co-defendants John and Danielle Kays of MD are serving prison sentences of six years and 18 months, respectively. Read more at https://bit.ly/2JIrMhp.

• A grand jury indicted David Kenney on charges related to accepting at least $436,000 in kickbacks in a fraud involving Fort Benning and Fort Gordon, both in GA.

        Kennedy is accused of illegally steering Army construction work to a subcontractor, according to the Associated Press. Read more at https://bit.ly/2XM6RE4.

VA ruling said to harm blind people

      Advocates for blind people are asking Congress to take action to overturn the recent court decision regarding VA procurements that favors veteran-owned small businesses over AbilityOne nonprofits employing blind and disabled people.

      Hundreds of people with severely impaired vision or no vision are expected to lose jobs as a result of the court decision, the advocates say.

Read more at:
The Hill story: https://bit.ly/2Lk0UYt

Puerto Rican fraud

      The FBI has arrested six former Puerto Rican officials on charges of illegally steering $15.5 million in federal funding to unqualified, politically-connected contractors from 2017 to 2019.

      Former Education Secretary Julia Keleher, former Health Insurance Administration head Ángela Ávila-Marrero, businessman Fernando Scherrer-Caillet and education contractors Glenda E. Ponce-Mendoza and Mayra Ponce-Mendoza are facing 32 counts of money laundering, fraud and other related charges, according to NBC news.

Read more at:
NBC News story: https://nbcnews.to/2Lg3VsJ

Inside this Edition:

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SCORE in trouble

HUBZone firms share wish list

Where is Carranza?

Credit for lower-tier subs

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