FBI Cracks $32 Million Cheating Scandal!

Washington DC

Peeling back the onion, the Bureau said agents cracked a $32 million cheating scandal in Washington DC sending KERRY KHAN to prison for almost 20-years with 14 other federal employees and contractors pleading guilty.  Code named, “FIVE ACES,” indicating the deck had been stacked against legitimate contractors, authorities said the 4-year investigation uncovered the “largest domestic bribery and bid-rigging scheme” known to investigators with the defendants using six different companies to perpetrate the fraud.  Agents said corrupt public officials and area contractors demanded kickbacks and paid bribes in exchange for securing numerous governments contracts.

Serving as a program manager and contracting officer’s technical representative for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, KHAN reportedly orchestrated the bribery scheme in 2006 when working with another co-worker named MICHAEL ALEXANDER.  Receiving a tip in 2009 area businesses were submitting phony references and evaluations, agents soon discovered a network of corrupt contractors paying bribes and kickbacks using “straw subcontractors, bogus invoices and fictitious companies.”

Investigators said KHAN pocketed more than $12 million buying flat screen TVs, computers, luxury watches, airline tickets, accommodations in five-star hotels, high-end liquor and 12 properties in three states.  He also remodeled his house and paid off his mortgage and enlisted his son and brother who have since pled guilty.

Collecting evidence, the investigation involved several different agencies and the FBI using a number of sophisticated techniques, including cooperating witnesses wearing electronic devices in order to record and monitor conversations and court-authorized wiretaps to identify and prosecute the defendants.  Agents said KHAN was getting ready to secure a $1 billion contract in exchange for making sizeable kickbacks when authorities moved in and made arrests.  Also pleading guilty, the FBI identified NOVA DATACOM as a co-conspirator–aiding KHAN ET AL in their efforts to defraud the government.