FORMER DOD CONTRACTOR PLEADS GUILTY FOR ROLE IN KICKBACK CASE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Former Department of Defense Contractor Pleads Guilty to Soliciting and Receiving Kickback Proceeds Related to U.S. Government Contract

The former director of operations of a Department of Defense contracting company in Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to soliciting and receiving $193,665 in kickback proceeds in return for steering U.S. government subcontracts to a U.K. company, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Robert W. Gannon, 54, of Bangkok, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to solicit and accept kickbacks.  Gannon will be sentenced on Jan. 28, 2016.

According to his plea agreement, Gannon’s job responsibilities included identifying, evaluating and monitoring subcontracts.  Gannon admitted that he used his position to arrange with executives of a U.K.-based company that they would make kickback payments to Gannon in return for a series of purchase orders Gannon’s company awarded in August 2009 with a total value of nearly $6 million.  Those orders called for the provision of explosive ordinance disposal equipment to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.  In return for his efforts, Gannon admitted that the U.K. company wired funds with a total value of almost $200,000 from bank accounts in the United Kingdom to Gannon’s account in Singapore.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the City of London Police provided significant assistance.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Wade Weems of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lytle of the Eastern District of Virginia.