Former U.S. Army Colonel Pleads Guilty to Accepting Illegal Gratuities Related to Contracting in Support of Iraq War

Defendant Accepted $50,000 and Tickets Related to Award of $12 Million Contract

April 14, 2010 - A retired colonel in the U.S. Army pleaded guilty today to accepting thousands of dollars in gratuities from a contractor during his deployment to Iraq as a contracting officer’s representative, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

Kevin A. Davis, 52, of Springdale, Md., pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton in the District of Columbia to a criminal information charging him with three counts of accepting an illegal gratuity. According to the court document, Col. Davis served in 2004 as the senior member of the source selection board responsible for the award of a contract valued at nearly $12 million to build and operate several Department of Defense warehouses around Iraq. In the period during and after the solicitation of the warehouse contract, Davis accepted two airplane tickets and $50,000 in cash from the contractor who submitted the successful bid for the contract. Davis admitted that he accepted the airplane tickets and money with the understanding and belief that they were for or because of his assistance to the contractor who received the warehouse contract.

"Today’s guilty plea by a retired colonel in the U.S. Army is a powerful reminder that fraud can corrupt even those we think of as incorruptible," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer. "The Public Integrity Section and our law enforcement partners will continue to unravel these complex and wide-ranging contractor fraud schemes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait."

"This guilty plea by Kevin Davis, a co-conspirator in a large contract fraud scheme, is further evidence of SIGIR’S collective efforts to root out public corruption within the Iraq program," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). "SIGIR remains committed to investigating wrongdoing and enforcing accountability in concert with our partner law enforcement agencies."

"This case illustrates that the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and its law enforcement partners, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, will not stand to have the contracting process circumvented for personal gain. Cleaning up contract fraud in Southwest Asia, to include bribery and gratuities, is the highest priority for DCIS. While we applaud this result today, it also sets forth a good example of conduct that cannot - and will not - be tolerated," said James Burch, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, DCIS.

Davis faces up to two years in prison and a fine of $250,000 per charged count. In addition, Davis agreed to pay $62,500 in restitution to the United States. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled by the court.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Richard B. Evans and Kevin O. Driscoll of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, and Trial Attorneys Mark W. Pletcher and Emily W. Allen of the Criminal and Antitrust Divisions. The case is being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigations Division, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Department of Homeland Security, and members of the National Procurement Fraud Task Force and the International Contract Corruption Task Force (ICCTF).

Today’s charges are an example of the Department of Justice’s commitment to protect U.S. taxpayers from procurement fraud through the National Procurement Fraud Task Force. The National Procurement Fraud Initiative, announced in October 2006, is designed to promote the early detection, identification, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with the increase in contracting activity for national security and other government programs. The ICCTF is a joint law enforcement agency task force that seeks to detect, investigate and dismantle corruption and contract fraud resulting from U.S. Overseas Contingency Operations, including Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.

Anyone with information concerning illegal conduct in the procurement of goods or services involving DOD contracts in Iraq or Afghanistan is urged to contact the National Procurement Fraud Task Force at 202- 514-7023 or the Public Integrity Section at 202-514-1412.