Wednesday, August 8, 2018

How Do You Accept a Bribe from Your Employer?

Is it a bribe, or a commission?

Richard Olsen, vice president of finance for Mission Support Alliance has agreed to pay triple the $41,480 in kickbacks he received from his own company, or $124,440.

The majority owner of Mission Support Alliance (MSA) at the time was Lockheed Martin. MSA had a contract to provide various site-wide services at the Energy Department's Hanford nuclear reservation including IT (information technology) services to other contractors performing work at Hanford. MSA did not have the resources to provide those IT services in-house so it subcontracted for those services another Lockheed Martin division.

The Justice Department, claims that Mr. Olsen, working for a Lockheed Martin division, accepted bribes from another Lockheed Martin division in exchange for "favorable treatment". He helped draft and submit false statements to the Energy Department regarding labor rates charged by the Lockheed subsidiary performing the IT subcontracted effort. The inflated labor rates were then passed along to the Energy Department and reimbursed under MSA's cost-reimbursable contract.

Mr. Olsen didn't admit any wrongdoing. His attorney said Mr. Olsen just wanted to put an end to a long-term Department of Justice investigation.

There is probably more to this story then is publicly known at this time. As part of the agreement, Mr. Olsen will cooperate with the ongoing investigation of the alleged fraud.

The Justice Department press release can be found here. A related article appearing in the local newspaper can be read here.

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