official, was sentenced in Birmingham, Ala., for his participation in
a bribery and money laundering scheme related to bribes paid for
contracts awarded in support of the Iraq war, announced Assistant
Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department's Criminal
Division.
U.S. District Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins sentenced Eddie Pressley
late yesterday to 144 months in prison and ordered him to serve three
years of supervised release following the prison term. The court said
it would also require Pressley to forfeit $21 million as well as real
estate and several automobiles.
"Mr. Pressley participated in a wide-ranging scheme to steer U.S. Army
contracts to particular providers in exchange for personal, illegal
profit," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer. "Taking in nearly $3
million, he enlisted his wife to help him conceal the nature of his
bribes and created phony paperwork to keep the scheme going. This
sentence sends the message loud and clear that we will not tolerate
corruption of any kind, and are determined to hold corrupt officials
accountable."
"This contracting scheme was driven by greed and is in no way
representative of the vast majority of public officials and government
contractors who work hard to serve our military," said James McJunkin,
Assistant Director of the FBI's Washington Field Office. "The FBI will
continue to investigate contracting fraud which deprives the U.S.
government of taxpayer dollars, regardless of where it occurs."
"I am pleased to see a perpetrator of criminal activity in Iraq
justly sentenced," said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., Special Inspector General
for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). "This individual sought to enrich
himself at the expense of U.S. taxpayers. SIGIR's investigations team
will continue to pursue criminals operating in Iraq and bring them to
justice."
"This sentence sends a clear message of deterrence to anyone
contemplating such an egregious breach of public trust. It is not a
matter of if you will be caught, but a matter of when," said James K.
Podolak, director of Army CID's Major Procurement Fraud Unit (MPFU).
"The outcome of this investigation is yet another testament to the
teamwork among the special agents of the U.S. Army Criminal
Investigation Command's MPFU and our fellow federal law enforcement
agencies."
"This sentencing represents the seriousness with which the government
will pursue corruption among its ranks," said Special Agent in Charge
Robert E. Craig for the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. "The
Defense Criminal Investigative Service stands with our service members
as they deploy throughout the world and will root out shameless
bribery schemes such as this one perpetrated by Mr. Pressley. DCIS
continues to work alongside our investigative partners at Army CID,
SIGIR, FBI, IRS-CI, and Public Integrity to jointly bring these
matters to justice."
Eddie Pressley, and his wife Eurica Pressley, were found guilty at
trial on March 1, 2011, of one count of bribery, one count of
conspiracy to commit bribery, eight counts of honest services fraud,
one count of money laundering conspiracy and 11 counts of engaging in
monetary transactions with criminal proceeds. A sentencing date for
Eurica Pressley has not yet been scheduled by the court.
The case against the Pressleys arose from a corruption probe focusing
on Camp Arifjan, a U.S. military base in Kuwait. As a result of this
investigation, 17 individuals, including the Pressleys, have pleaded
guilty or been found guilty at trial for their roles in the scheme.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Eddie Pressley took various
actions to benefit certain contractors who paid him bribes, including
Terry Hall. Pressley served as a U.S. Army contracting official at
Camp Arifjan between 2004 and 2005. From spring 2004 through fall
2007, Hall operated and had an interest in several companies,
including Freedom Consulting and Catering Co. and Total Government
Allegiance. In February 2005, Eddie Pressley arranged for Hall to
obtain a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) to deliver goods and
services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and its components in
Kuwait and elsewhere.
A BPA is a type of contract by which the DoD agrees to pay a
contractor a specified price for a particular good or service. Based
on a BPA, the DoD orders the supplies on an as-needed basis. The
contractor is then obligated to deliver the supplies ordered at the
price agreed upon in the BPA. The term for such an order by the DoD is
a "call."
According to Hall's testimony and other evidence presented at trial,
Pressley demanded a $50,000 bribe before he would issue bottled water
calls to Hall. Hall testified that in April 2005, he and his
associates arranged for Pressley to receive the money in a bank
account established in the name of a shell company, EGP Business
Solutions Inc.
Hall's testimony and other evidence at trial showed that soon after
the $50,000 bribe was paid, Pressley and John Cockerham, another U.S.
Army contracting official, increased the bribe demand to $1.6 million,
which consisted of $800,000 for Pressley and $800,000 for Cockerham.
After Hall and others agreed to pay the money, Pressley and Cockerham
took various official acts to benefit Hall, including, among other
things, issuing calls for bottled water and fencing, arranging for
Hall to receive a fence contract and modifying Hall's BPA to remove
the upper limit of the money Hall could receive from the DoD under the
bottled water BPA.
Evidence at trial also showed that Eddie Pressley enlisted the help of
his wife to receive the bribes. On March 9, 2005, he sent his wife an
email in which he told her, among other things: "You will be getting
some paperwork with your maiden name on it"; "I need you to sign it
and mail to whatevery (sic) address on it"; "I am doing some
consulting"; and "Of course I am not going to turn down any money, but
I can't have anyone paying me in my name because I am in the military
so I had them put everything in your maiden name."
According to evidence presented at trial, Eurica Pressley traveled to
Dubai in May 2005 and to the Cayman Islands in June 2005 to open bank
accounts to receive the bribe money. She also took control of the U.S.-
based account in the name of EGP Business Solutions Inc. A law
enforcement agent testified at the trial about various false and
misleading statements Eurica Pressley made to him during a voluntary
interview at her home, including her denial that she had any foreign
bank accounts. In addition, the evidence presented at trial
demonstrated that the Pressleys, Hall and others attempted to conceal
the true nature of their corrupt scheme by having Eurica Pressley
execute bogus "consulting agreements." They also prepared false
invoices that were designed to justify the bribe payments as payment
for non-existent "consulting services."
Bank statements and wire transfer reports demonstrated that, in total,
the Pressleys received approximately $2.9 million in bribe payments,
approximately $1.6 million of which consisted of payments from other
contractors that Hall facilitated for Eddie Pressley. Evidence
presented at trial showed that the Pressleys used the money to
purchase real estate, expensive automobiles and home decorating
services, among other things.
Former U.S. Army Major James Momon also testified at trial that Eddie
Pressley and Cockerham recruited him to join the bribe scheme and that
he took various official acts to receive bribes from some of the same
contractors who paid Pressley and Cockerham, including Hall.
Additionally, he testified that Pressley told him that if they got
caught they would spend "six years in jail" and that Cockerham and
Pressley warned him to be careful.
On Jan. 31, 2008, Cockerham pleaded guilty to participating in a
bribery and money laundering scheme at Camp Arifjan. He was sentenced
on Dec. 2, 2009, to 210 months in prison and ordered to pay $9.6
million in restitution.
On Feb. 18, 2010, Hall pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy and money
laundering conspiracy and agreed to forfeit $15.7 million to the U.S.
government in connection with his payment of more than $3 million in
bribes to Cockerham, Eddie Pressley, Momon and Christopher Murray. He
is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 23, 2012.
On Aug. 13, 2009, Momon pleaded guilty to receiving approximately $1.6
million in bribes and agreed to pay $5.7 million in restitution.
Momon's sentencing has not yet been scheduled. On Jan. 8, 2009, Murray
pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and making a false statement. He
was sentenced on Dec. 17, 2009, to 57 months in prison and ordered to
pay $245,000 in restitution.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Peter C. Sprung and
Edward J. Loya, Jr. of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity
Section. Assistance was also provided by the Criminal Division's
Office of International Affairs. The cases are being investigated by
the Army CID, DCIS, ICE, FBI, IRS-CI, SIGIR and the International
Contract Corruption Task Force (ICCTF). 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 worldwide, including in Kuwait, Afghanistan and
Iraq.
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one down ... thousands to go
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