Guy Just Can't Get a Decent Job - Even With Wife's Assistance

A former contracting official with GSA (General Services Administration) and her husband pleaded guilty yesterday to engaging in a nepotism scheme in which they conspired to fraudulently obtain employment from the U.S. Government and private federal contractors with which the (former) GSA official had some form of official oversight. The Government calls this a $200 thousand fraud.

Kind of a curious situation - makes one thing the spouse was basically unemployable for why else would the spouse need to make 139 false employment applications to federal agencies and Government contractors.

According to the DOJ press release, the two engaged in a scheme to enrich themselves by obtaining employment with federal contractors and the U.S. Government through false and misleading statements concerning the spouse's relationship to the GSA official, his education, and his qualifications. The GSA official induced a Government contractor to hire her husband and she also tried to hire her husband at GSA where he would be under her supervision.

According the guilty plea, the couple caused over 139 false employment applications to be submitted to federal agencies. These applications misrepresented many things about the spouse including his supposed graduate degree and his level of contracting certification. He couldn't seem to land a job at a Federal agency so he submitted his false applications to at least six different Government contractors.

The couple now face a maximum penalty of five years in prison plus restitution though, it is unlikely the maximum penalties will be handed down when sentencing occurs next July.

The DOJ press release did not disclose how the fraud was uncovered. It would be useful to know that information so that contractors can enhance their own internal controls to reduce the likelihood of employing individuals with misleading resumes.