Do you think we will get the money back?

VA supervisor from Hopewell pleads guilty to taking $1.2M in kickbacks

A Hopewell man who worked for the federal Department of Veterans Affairs pleaded guilty today to defrauding the agency, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said.

Jarod Machinga, 43, admitted awarding more than $6 million worth of construction projects reserved for small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans to companies owned by an associate who was not a veteran, and to accepting more than $1.2 million in kickbacks, Fishman’s office said in a press release.

“Taking more than $1 million in kickbacks — including money meant for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses — not only violates the law, it violates our sense of decency,” Fishman said.

Machinga worked at the VA Medical Center in East Orange and had the authority to award VA construction contracts to small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans. His associate, who was not a veteran, set up three companies to which Machinga awarded the contracts, Fishman’s office said.

Machinga pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton, admitting to accepting $1,277,206 in kickbacks between 2007 and 2012.

He also admitted to recruiting other companies to actually perform the work, which allowed his associate’s companies to keep the money paid to them by the VA without having to complete the projects.

“Jarod Machinga’s criminal behavior violated the public trust, betrayed the best interests of disabled veteran entrepreneurs and besmirched the reputations of the overwhelming majority of the employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs who are dedicated to serving the veterans,” VA inspector general George Opfer said.

Machinga pleaded guilty to one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property.

Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The single count of monetary transaction carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in a prison and a fine of $10,000, twice the amount gained or loss or no more than twice the amount of the criminally derived property involved in the transaction, the release said.

Machinga is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 15.

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/09/va_supervisor_from_hopewell_pleads_guilty_to_taking_12m_in_kickbacks_attorney_says.html