The owner of a commercial flooring company in Fairbanks, Alaska, pleaded guilty for his role in a conspiracy to provide kickbacks in contracts for flooring services at a U.S. Army facility.
The owner of a commercial flooring company in Fairbanks, Alaska, pleaded guilty for his role in a conspiracy to provide kickbacks in contracts for flooring services at a U.S. Army facility.
Between March 2016 and March 2021, the flooring company owner, Benjamin McCulloch, conspired to pay kickbacks to an employee of a prime contractor related to flooring construction contracts administered by the U.S. Army at Fort Wainwright, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. McCulloch conspired to inflate the costs of four flooring construction subcontracts, then provided the proceeds to a co-conspirator, paying over $100,000 in kickbacks throughout the five-year scheme.
“When subcontractors and prime contractors at U.S. Army facilities collude, they undermine competition for government contracts and waste public funds intended to bolster our national defense,” stated Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The division and our law enforcement partners will bring to justice criminals who cheat on government contracts.”
McCulloch pleaded guilty to five-count felony charges, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.