A prosecution alleging bribes for contracts at Naval Information Warfare Center has continued to widen with a new indictment accusing a defense contractor of showering a former civilian employee with gifts.
Cask Technologies, LLC and former company executive Mark Larsen are charged with conspiracy and bribery in a grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday in San Diego federal court.
Larsen, who held various leadership positions at Cask, with offices in San Diego and Virginia, is accused of giving fancy meals and golf outings to James Soriano, the figure at the center of the corruption scandal, according to the indictment.
Soriano is a former civil engineer and certified contracting officer representative who worked for the Department of Defense at the Naval Information Warfare Center, or NAVWAR, which was previously known as the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, or SPAWAR.
Soriano, who pleaded guilty in the case in June, included admissions about his relationship with Larsen and Cask in his plea agreement, prosecutors said.
In exchange for the bribes, Soriano allegedly steered noncompetitive small-business contracts to Cask and its subsidiaries and allowed Cask employees to ghostwrite much of the paperwork involved in the government contract work for Soriano, such as official government correspondence and performance evaluations, according to the indictment.
Larsen and Cask Technologies were arraigned in San Diego federal court on Wednesday, and Larsen was allowed to remain out of custody on a $20,000 bond, court records show.
“Mark Larsen and Cask Technologies, LLC have pled not guilty to all charges and allegations in the government’s indictment, Los Angeles-based attorney Aaron Dyer, who is representing both defendants, said in an email. These charges have no merit, and we look forward to vigorously contesting them in court.”
The indictment is the latest in a string alleging contract fraud involving Soriano, who admitted to accepting pricey tickets to premier sporting events and fancy meals from contractors, as well as securing no-work jobs for a close friend and a family member.
In September, Cambridge International Systems, a Virginia-based defense contracting firm, was sentenced in San Diego after pleading guilty to a bribery conspiracy and was ordered to pay more than $4.1 million in fines and forfeitures.
“This newest indictment is another constructive step toward accountability in this ongoing multi-year investigation,” said Bryan D. Denny, special agent in charge for the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Western Field Office. “Mr. Larsen and Cask Technologies are accused of feeding their own greed by knowingly corrupting the government’s acquisition process and some government officials at the expense of our nation’s warfighters and taxpayers.”
Soriano is set to be sentenced in May. Two other people who pleaded guilty for their involvement are awaiting sentencing, while others are fighting the charges.