Indian American pleads guilty in Vermont fraud case
August 08, 2018
An Indian American man, Bhaskar Patel, 67, from Orlando, Florida, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of violating both the federal Anti-Kickback Act and for accepting bribes for a program that was receiving federal funds between June 2011 and April 2016, according to a signed plea agreement filed in federal court.
Patel is a former energy company manager who took more than $2.5 million in kickbacks and bribes for construction work on federal facilities, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont.
Patel had some checks for the various kickbacks and bribes in multiple states and U.S. territories made out to him, while in other cases he had payments made to two of his children, identified as a son, “J.P.,” and a daughter, “F.P.,” the federal charges assert.
The former project manager of a VA contractor with for over $200 million in performed contracts with the government including Veterans Affairs pled guilty to taking $2.5 million in kickbacks.
Bhaskar Patel entered his guilty plea Friday. The Florida resident is facing 10 years in prison for violating laws prohibiting kickbacks. The 67-year-old Patel will need to make cash restitution as a part of his plea agreement.
“Patel’s crime involved a sweeping fraud that harmed many federal agencies and the American citizens and government employees who depend upon them,” Vermont’s United States Attorney Christina Nolan said in a statement issued after the court appearance.
Investigators learned of the fraudulent activity while investigating bidding patters at the VA medical center located in White River Junction, Vermont. Patel allegedly falsified a bid as a part of his duties for his employer Schneider Electric Buildings America Inc that was detected by investigators.
According to the Associated Press:
Prosecutors said Patel accepted the illegal kickbacks and bribes in connection with a $70 million project for the United States Coast Guard in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; a $24.7 million project for the United States Department of Agriculture in Albany, California; a $12.6 million project for the United States General Services Administration in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; a $21.8 million project for GSA in San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and a proposed project for work at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.
“Patel directed the subcontractors to pay him by check, often diverting funds through his adult son and daughter, and insisting on a bogus reference notation,” said a press release. Basically, Patel in his capacity as an official for the VA contractor apparently accepted the kickbacks without his employer or VA noticing for many years.
I guess he will not be getting that fancy retirement, after all.
Bootleggers and Sales Tax Theft/Fraud by Patels, Hindus, Men and Women from Gujarat, India and Muslims, Indian Americans liquor store owners of Schaumburg, IL and Chicago area, indicted and faces Prison and Fine
Nine liquor store operators, including two from the Southland, have been charged with tax evasion as part of a crackdown on liquor bootlegging, the Illinois Attorney General's office announced Thursday. Between July 2010 and December 2013, the nine defendants defrauded the state out of $3.5 million in sales tax revenue, according to the office. Among those charged are Abdel Fattah Hammad, 41, of Tinley Park, who runs Al Muflihi Food & Liquors, in Chicago, and Yasir Kanan, 38, of Oak Lawn, who operates Jeff's Food and Liquor, 8258 S. Halsted St., Chicago. Hammad's bail was set Thursday at $100,00 and Kanan's at $50,000. Two Indiana men were also charged, and it's alleged that the Illinois merchants bypassed taxes they would have paid if they bought liquor from a distributor by dealing directly with Indiana liquor stores. State authorities were initially made aware of the bootlegging through a tip from an Illinois retailer, according to the Illinois ...
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