A construction company owner who is neither a veteran nor a minority has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for defrauding the government out of $346 million in contracts meant for service-disabled veterans and minorities.
Matthew C. McPherson, 45, of Olathe, Kansas, was also ordered to pay the government back $5.5 million, which was his share of profits from the scheme, the Justice Department said in a news release.
"This contractor not only defrauded the government but cheated to get contracts that should have gone to firms led by disabled veterans and minority owners," U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore said in the release Wednesday, the day McPherson was sentenced in federal court. "His greed and deception allowed him to enrich himself at the expense of disabled veterans and minority owners."
McPherson had pleaded guilty in June 2019 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and major program fraud after admitting he participated in a plot from September 2009 to March 2018 to get federal contracts meant for small businesses owned and controlled by veterans, service-disabled veterans and certified minorities, according to the Justice Department.
“These are examples of inefficient government,” said Shelley Armato, CEO of MySmartPlans, which works to make the construction industry more efficient. “I say it is like chewing a piece of bubble gum, ‘sweet in the beginning, then a dry burden.’ In this industry 'cheating,' is no longer alarming.”
McPherson's sentencing “sends a clear message that contractors unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of our nation's veterans will not be tolerated," said Gavin McClaren, acting special agent in charge with the Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general's central field office, in a statement.
McPherson and his co-conspirators were accused of setting up two companies using straw owners to fraudulently win the contracts.
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