Israeli contractor caught defrauding US foreign military aid program

SPUTNIK – Israeli national Yuval Marshak was extradited from Bulgaria and charged with defrauding a US foreign military aid program, the US Department of Justice said in a press release on Friday.

According to the indictment, Marshak falsified documents to make it appear that certain FMF contracts were competitively bid, that no non-US content was used in the contracts and that no commissions were paid.

“Yuval Marshak, a former owner and executive of an Israel-based defense contractor, carried out three separate schemes between 2009 and 2013 to defraud the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program and used a company in the United States to launder some of the proceeds of his fraud,” the release stated. Marshak had arranged to receive commissions, which he funneled through a Connecticut-based company owned by a relative, the Justice Department said.

Two US companies have already settled charges with the Justice Department in connection with the FMF contracts, the release added.

Earlier this year, the New Jersey-based defense contractor Octal Group agreed to pay $460,000 in fines and restitution for covering up an agreement with Marshak. A second company, Hale Products, Inc. paid more than $60,000 and agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department investigation.

In addition to fines, Marshak faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for wire and mail fraud charges, ten years for major fraud against the US government and 20 years for international money laundering.

SOURCE: https://sputniknews.com/us/201610141046347127-israel-defrauding-program-us/