Tuesday, March 12, 2024

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

U.S. Navy Contracting Officer and IT Exec Charged for Bribery Scheme

Gavel

PUBLISHED MAR 11, 2024 3:54 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The U.S. Justice Department has charged a U.S. Navy contracting officer and a software executive with bribery over a scheme to steer lucrative contracts to a specific company.  

James Soriano, 63, was a civilian engineer and project leader at the Naval Information Warfare Center in San Diego. According to prosecutors, he strayed from his role as a neutral arbiter and began to tilt the scales in favor of Russell Thurston, 51, then an executive with a defense technology firm headquartered on the East Coast.  

According to the indictment, Thurston and his subordinates gave things of value to Soriano, including free meals and jobs for Soriano's friends and family. One of these friends appears to have held her job without performing any responsibilities, and gave half her salary to Soriano in the form of a monthly cash payment, prosecutors alleged. This amounted to a matter of about $2,000 per month. 

In return, according to charging documents, Soriano allowed Thurston to draft the procurement documents for competitive contract tenders. In this manner, Thurston's company won a major contract worth up to $300 million, and Soriano proceeded to approve about $100 million worth of work under the terms of the agreement. 

Both men are charged with bribery. Soriano was also charged with three counts of filing false tax returns, as he did not declare the illicit cash that he was receiving from his friend as income, prosecutors said. 

“Using a position of public trust as a means to fraudulently grant access to federal programs for personal gain will not be tolerated,” said the Small Business Administration's Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King.  

“Using a position of public trust as a means to fraudulently grant access to federal programs for personal gain will not be tolerated,” said SBA OIG’s Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King. “Our Office will remain relentless in the pursuit of fraudsters who seek to exploit SBA’s vital economic programs. I want to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners for their dedication and commitment to seeing justice served.”


Two Charged With Manslaughter for Illegal Charter Accident

Capsized boat stimulus money
Courtesy U.S. Coast Guard

PUBLISHED MAR 10, 2024 1:45 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The operators of an unlicensed charter boat face charges of seaman's manslaughter in connection with the deaths of two passengers in a capsizing in 2022, the Coast Guard announced Friday, and could be sent to prison for up to 10 years if convicted.

Richard Cruz and Jaeme Pinella Gomez were the owners and operators of Stimulus Money, a small speedboat that they operated as a for-hire passenger tour vessel. Neither had a merchant mariners' credential, and they did not have a COI for the boat. 

On July 12, 2022, Stimulus Money departed the pier with 13 people on board for a tour on the Hudson. The number of passengers exceeded the boat's rated capacity. According to federal prosecutors, Gomez was not experienced and "piloted Stimulus Money in a dangerous manner." At about 1440 hours, he rapidly increased the throttle for one of the engines, and the boat capsized. Gomez was not wearing an auto-shutoff lanyard, so the engine continued to run. 

All 13 people aboard were thrown into the water, and 11 survivors were rescued by the NYPD, FDNY and good samaritan vessels. The other two - a seven-year-old boy and his aunt, 48 - drowned underneath the boat. The FDNY Dive Rescue Team recovered the victims at about 1445 hours. 

Cruz and Gomez are being charged each with one count of misconduct and neglect of ship officer resulting in death, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

The U.S. Coast Guard investigated the case and passed it over to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for prosecution. Charges were revealed last week. 

“We offer our deepest condolences to those affected by this tragic accident,” said Capt. Zeita Merchant, Captain of the Port of New York. “We can’t stress enough how important it is for owners and operators to know your vessel’s limits and how to safely navigate the waters where you are operating. It is just as important for passengers to understand and ensure those requirements placed upon vessel operators for credentialling are in place before getting underway.”


Vale ex-president could escape Brumadinho 

homicide charges


Staff Writer | March 7, 2024 | 

Vale’s former Chief Executive Fabio Schvartsman. Photo by Vale.

Former Vale (NYSE: VALE) president Fábio Schvartsman may escape criminal charges for the 2019 Brumadinho dam collapse after a second judge in a Minas Gerais court voted to dismiss them.


According to the Federal Regional Court of the Sixth Region in the Brazilian state, prosecutors did not meet the minimum standards to prove the former Vale president’s involvement in the dam breach at one of the company’s iron ore mines.

The disaster in January 2019 resulted in the deaths of 270 people.

The court consists of three members. On Dec. 13, federal judge Boson Gambogi was the first to vote to dismiss the charges. This Tuesday, federal judge Pedro Felipe Santos followed his colleague’s decision, as reported by Folha de São Paulo.

However, votes can be changed until Mar. 12.

Fifteen other individuals, including executives from Vale and the consulting firm Tuv Sud, are defendants in the case. All are accused of qualified homicide and environmental crimes.

According to a report presented by the Federal Police in February 2021, the breach occurred after liquefaction of the tailings during drilling on the dam.

Schvartsman’s lawyer, Maurício de Oliveira Campos Júnior, said that the executive was unaware of that drilling.

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