Former Coalition Official Sentenced in Fraud Case
Former Coalition Official Sentenced in Fraud Case
ARMY RESERVE OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY TO MONEY LAUNDERING CONSPIRACY INVOLVING STOLEN CURRENCY AND FRAUD IN IRAQA former official of the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority was sentenced yesterday to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit $3.6 million for his role in one of the largest fraud schemes to emerge from the reconstruction of Iraq, the Justice Department said yesterday.
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Prosecutors also say Stein and other members of the scheme stole $2 million in reconstruction funds, and that Bloom laundered the money before giving it back to Stein and his co-conspirators. Bloom, who has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced in February, received more than $8.6 million in what prosecutors said were rigged contracts. Another official, Army Reserve Lt. Col. Bruce D. Hopfengardner, has also pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme.
According to the court documents filed in connection with the plea, beginning in about November 2003, Hopfengardner was assigned as an advisor to the CPA-SC region in Al-Hillah, Iraq, where he was responsible for managing various construction projects. A criminal information alleges that, in connection with those projects, he, Robert Stein and others steered contracts to Philip Bloom, a U.S. citizen operating construction services and security companies in Iraq, in exchange for cars (including a Yukon Denali), expensive jewelry, computers and other items of value. The information alleges that Bloom caused wire transfers originating in Iraq to bank accounts in the United States controlled by Hopfengardner during the period of February 2004 to July 2004. According to the information, Bloom sent approximately $175,000 in laundered funds to Hopfengardner, and purchased a Yukon Denali in June 2004.
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Hopfengardner is the first military officer to plead guilty to charges related to the conspiracy. On Nov. 30, 2005, Michael Wheeler of Amherst Junction, Wis., a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, was arrested in connection with the investigation. On Dec. 15, 2005, Debra Harrison, 47, of Trenton, N.J., also a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, was arrested in connection with the investigation. She is presently released on bond.
Reminds me of the day when our React Section (I was part of a security element at the USLO compound) was dispatched out to the larger UNOSOM command compound at Mogadishu.
Someone had absconded with $3 or 4 million dollars from UN funds (payroll?). I don't know why we were sent to look for said person or individuals (as if they would be hefting large suitcases around).
They got away free and clear, and somehow out of the country. Imagine that!
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