Cory Taylor Wright Sentenced to Three Years in Federal Prison for Defrauding the U.S. Navy
LOS ANGELES (KEYT) – Cory Taylor Wright, 49, of Columbus, Georgia, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for defrauding the U.S. Navy out of over $9 million through a bid-rigging and contract-steering scheme involving a fellow military insider.
Wright previously pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in August of last year.
According to Wright's plea agreement, he was an enlisted member of the U.S. Navy from February 1997 to May 2017 and, between 2005 and 2017, he worked for the branch's Mobile Utilities Support Equipment division at Port Hueneme.
The specialized division provided technical and logistical support for military operations around the world and used prime contractors to secure contracts with subcontractors to accomplish their tasks explained federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.
As Wright approached his retirement in late 2016, he and Juan Carlos Aragon of Port Hueneme agreed to create a Georgia-based company, C&C Power Solutions LLC., with the understanding that Aragon would use his supervisory position at the specialized division to steer contracts to the company while receiving kickbacks for his actions detailed federal prosecutors.
Upon retirement, Aragon would become a 50 percent partner in the company and the scheme was in operation from December 2016 to August 2022, stated the First Assistant's Office for the Central District of California.
According to federal prosecutors, Aragon caused a prime contractor and subcontractors to issue payments to C&C for products and services it did not provide and in order to initially found the company.
Wright also created fraudulent invoices that indicated C&C had completed work and delivered products when it had not completed any contract obligations to the Port Hueneme-based division added prosecutors.
In September 2017, Wright and Aragon conspired to ensure that C&C became the division's next prime contractor, a relationship worth tens of millions of dollars, by generating fabricated documents and submitting them to the U.S. Navy shared federal prosecutors.
Additionally, the duo hid Aragon's role and financial interest in the company including his direct involvement in the bid proposal process added prosecutors.
Between July 2019 when the U.S. Navy awarded C&C the contract and the termination of three task orders in late 2022 and early 2023, Wright submitted multiple false documents and invoices to the military branch explained the First Assistant's Office.
According to federal prosecutors, the scheme defrauded the U.S. Navy out of approximately $9,128,515 for task orders that included active combat zones and Wright has been ordered to pay the exact amount back in restitution.
On April 21, Aragon pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public official and he was sentenced on Aug. 25 to 12 months and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay $97,960 in restitution shared federal prosecutors.
"This was not an isolated lapse in judgment or a fraud of limited duration," argued a sentencing memorandum submitted by prosecutors in Los Angeles. "[Wright] repeatedly participated in deceptive conduct designed to undermine a competitive federal procurement process."
