A federal grand jury has indicted Cask Technologies, LLC and former executive Mark Larsen on charges of bribing a government employee to secure valuable government contracts, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced Wednesday.
According to court records, Larsen and his team at Cask allegedly provided former Naval Information Warfare Center employee James Soriano with various benefits, including high-end meals, golf outings, and full-time jobs for both a close family friend and an immediate family member, the department said.
At the time, Larsen held multiple leadership roles at Cask, including director, managing director, vice president, and executive vice president, with company offices in San Diego and Stafford, Virginia.
In exchange, Soriano is accused of using his official position to benefit Cask by directing non-competitive small business contracts to Cask and its network of affiliated companies, according to the department.
Soriano also allegedly allowed Larsen and other Cask employees to draft procurement documents, including competitive contract proposals, and to ghostwrite official government emails, correspondence, and performance evaluations for his signature, all of which favored Cask and its affiliates, the department reported.