War profiteers defraud United States taxpayers

This 19 March 2019 video from the USA says about itself:

Pentagon waste on booze and lobster revealed

Rick Sanchez breaks down the Pentagon putting your tax dollars to work: Lobster, crab, alcohol, golf carts, tubas and trombones – the list goes on! Then constitutional attorney and president of the Rutherford Institute John Whitehead joins to weigh in on the colossal waste of tax money that the US “defense” budget represents and which puts the country ever deeper in debt.

By Jay Jackson, Big News Network, 31st March 2019, 00:47 GMT+11:

Two companies confess to rigging bids on U.S. military contracts

WASHINGTON DC – Two South Korean companies on Friday pleaded guilty to rigging bids on contracts involving the U.S. military.

In a stunning development, the companies Hyundai Oilbank Co. Ltd. and S-Oil Corporation

According to Wikipedia, mainly owned by Saudi Aramco, of the murderous and warmongering Saudi Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Mohamed bin Salman.

have agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay approximately $75 million in fines for their involvement in a bid-rigging conspiracy that targeted contracts to supply fuel to the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force bases in South Korea for a period of about ten years.

In separate civil resolutions, the same companies have agreed to pay another $52 million to the United States for civil antitrust and False Claims Act violations related to the bid-rigging conspiracy.

…

The Criminal Case:

On Friday, the Department of Justice unsealed a three-count superseding indictment from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio that was returned in September last year. According to the superseding indictment, the Defense Logistics Agency and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service are two U.S. Defense Department agencies that contract with South Korean companies to supply fuel to the numerous U.S. military bases throughout South Korea.

Count One charges Hyundai Oilbank, S-Oil, and the seven individuals with participating in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition during the bidding process for the fuel supply contracts.

The individuals, all residents and citizens of South Korea, are Hee-Soo Kim, Tae Ho Cho, Jiwon Kang, Young-Ho Yoon, Byung Kuk Kim, Byungik Moon, and Eul-Jin Hyung.

Count Two charges Hyundai Oilbank, S-Oil, and the seven individuals with participating in a conspiracy to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful function of the procurement processes for the fuel supply contracts. As part of its plea agreement with Hyundai Oilbank and S-Oil, the Antitrust Division agreed to move to dismiss Count Two against the two companies upon sentencing.

Count Three charges Hee-Soo Kim with tampering with a witness by use of intimidation, threats, or corrupt persuasion, with the intent to hinder, delay, and prevent communication with a law enforcement officer of the United States.

Hyundai Oilbank and S-Oil have agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigation. The plea agreements are subject to court approval.

The investigation began based on a tip to the Defense Logistics Agency Inspector General (IG) Hotline. The IG office developed the information, interviewed the complainant, and then referred the case to the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. …

It should be noted, an indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

A criminal violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a criminal fine of $1 million for individuals and a maximum criminal fine of $100 million for corporations. The maximum fines may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

A criminal violation carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.

Today’s pleas are the fourth and fifth respectively resulting from an ongoing federal investigation into bid rigging, price fixing, and other anticompetitive conduct targeting U.S. Department of Defense fuel supply contracts in South Korea. The criminal case is being prosecuted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section and the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Ohio, in conjunction with the DCIS, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Army CID, the Defense Logistics Agency Office of the Inspector General, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

The Civil Case:

The Department’s Antitrust Division on Friday filed a civil antitrust complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, and at the same time filed proposed settlements that, if approved by the court, would resolve the lawsuit against Hyundai Oilbank and S-Oil for their anticompetitive conduct targeting the U.S. military in South Korea.

As a result of this conduct, the United States Department of Defense paid substantially more for fuel supply services in South Korea than it would have had Hyundai Oilbank and S-Oil competed for the fuel supply contracts. The proposed settlement provides that Hyundai Oilbank pay $39.1 million and S-Oil pay $12.98 million to the United States to resolve the civil antitrust violations. In addition to the payments, Hyundai Oilbank and S-Oil have agreed to cooperate with the ongoing civil investigation of the conduct and to abide by antitrust compliance program requirements.

The payments will also resolve civil claims that the United States has under the False Claims Act against the two companies for making false statements to the government in connection with their agreement not to compete. The Civil Division has entered into separate settlement agreements with the companies to resolve these claims.

Except where based on admissions by defendants in the criminal pleas, the claims resolved by the civil agreements are allegations only.

The civil settlements were handled by the Antitrust Division’s Transportation, Energy, and Agriculture Section, by the Civil Division, and by the Civil Fraud section of the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Ohio.

The United States’ civil investigation resulted from a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Those provisions allow for private parties to sue on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery.