Syracuse, N.Y. — A civilian U.S. Department of Defense employee based in Central New York was involved in a multi-year bid-rigging scheme to steer military contracts to a Utah company in exchange for kickbacks, according to federal prosecutors.
The employee, a senior computer scientist at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, got more than $150,000 in items for personal use, including home renovation tools, tool bags and various Apple products, prosecutors said in court papers filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
The Utah company signed on a company owned by a family member of the defense employee as a subcontractor, prosecutors said. It additionally hired the employee’s spouse as a consultant and paid them $60,400…