Veteran Cory Wright caught defrauding U.S. Navy out of over $9 million in false billing and bid-rigging scheme alongside active duty insider
LOS ANGELES – Navy veteran Cory Taylor Wright has agreed to plead guilty to felony wire fraud in connection to a bid-rigging and contract steering scheme while working at Naval Base Ventura County.
Wright agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and will plead guilty to the felony charge in the coming weeks which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison stated a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California Wednesday.
The 49-year-old Columbus, Georgia man was enlisted in the U.S. Navy from February 1997 until his retirement in May of 2017 and at various points during his career, worked for the Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) division stationed out of Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office.
MUSE was responsible for the management and technical support of power systems, such as large generators, for Department of Defense operations worldwide which included active combat zones noted the U.S. Attorney's Office.
MUSE would engage with primary contractors to procure products and services, usually by tasking specific orders to subcontractors explained the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the plea agreement, as Wright neared retirement in late 2016, he and another enlisted member of the U.S. Navy -identified in court documents as Co-Conspirator 1- agreed to create a Georgia-based company, C&C Power Solutions LLC.
Co-conspirator 1 was an enlistee who ultimately retired from the Navy in 2021 and held various positions at MUSE, including supervisory positions, that allowed him to exercise influence over the awarding of U.S. Navy contracts explained the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The pair founded C&C Power Solutions LLC with an understanding that Co-conspirator 1 would be a 50 percent partner in the business upon his retirement and would ensure the company secured Navy contracts in exchange for thousands of dollars in kickbacks and other benefits, including payments to a sporting club operated by the co-conspirator, detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Co-Conspirator 1 secured initial funding for the scheme by causing a prime contractor and subcontractors to issue payments to C&C Power Solutions for goods and services the company never provided.
Once the fraudulent company was operating, Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 engaged in a bid-rigging scheme to ensure that C&C Power Solutions secured subcontracts from a prime contractor stated the U.S. Attorney's Office.
An example of the scheme is that Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 caused the submission of multiple fake contract bids that estimated costs that far exceeded costs in C&C Power Solutions' submission in connection with a 2017 task order worth $790,496 detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Wright also created false and fraudulent invoices that showed C&C Power Solutions LLC. had completed work and delivered products to MUSE when the company had not completed its contractual obligations which caused prime contractors to submit invoices containing the falsified invoices alongside accurate ones and resulted in the Navy issuing payments explained the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Beginning in September of 2017, Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 conspired to secure a prime contract for C&C Power Solutions which they knew would be worth tens of millions of dollars noted the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 generated fake documents, including a fraudulent past performance questionnaire, to obtain the prime contract as well as concealed Co-Conspirator 1's role and financial interest in C&C Power Solutions.
Between the time the U.S. Navy awarded a prime contact to C&C Power Solutions in July 2019 and ultimately terminated three task orders awarded to the company in late 2022 and early 2023, Wright repeatedly submitted false documents, including invoices, to the Navy, obtaining additional money for his company that it was not entitled to receive added the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In total, Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 defrauded the U.S. Navy out of approximately $9,128,515 noted the U.S. Attorney's Office.
