A former federal contracting official from Brandywine, Maryland was sentenced to three years in federal prison Tuesday for running a bribery scheme that funneled General Services Administration construction work to favored companies in exchange for cash, vehicle repairs, and even a sports car. Lennie Lamont Miller, 61, was a GSA contracting officer’s representative who used his authority over federal projects between 2018 and 2021 to steer subcontracts to two construction firms whose owners paid him bribes and kickbacks.
U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman handed down the sentence during a hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland. Miller pleaded guilty in January to two federal counts of conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official, as reported by WBFF. Each count carried a statutory maximum of up to 10 years in prison, as reported by the Southern Maryland Chronicle.
Court filings from January detailed how Miller manipulated the federal procurement process by directly introducing favored subcontractors to prime contractors managing GSA projects, guaranteeing those subcontractors’ selection without real competition, according to the Southern Maryland Chronicle. Prosecutors say Miller paired the companies owned by co-conspirators Christopher Brackins and James Tillman with prime contractors identified in court records only as Company B and Company C.
Cash, a Sports Car, and Air-Conditioning Invoices
WBFF reports that Miller conspired with Brackins, 53, of Mount Airy, Maryland, who owned a company doing subcontracting work on GSA projects. The reported benefits from Brackins totaled about $50,000, including cash, checks, vehicle repairs, repairs at a relative’s residence, an $8,000 cash payment in 2018 from a fraudulently inflated employee bonus, and a $25,000 payment in 2021 through an intermediary’s air-conditioning repair business…