{"id":15586,"date":"2023-04-19T03:46:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T10:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/contractor-gets-6-years-in-jail-nearly-1m-fine-in-caltrans-bribery-scheme\/"},"modified":"2023-04-19T03:46:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T10:46:05","slug":"contractor-gets-6-years-in-jail-nearly-1m-fine-in-caltrans-bribery-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/contractor-gets-6-years-in-jail-nearly-1m-fine-in-caltrans-bribery-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Contractor gets 6 years in jail, nearly $1M fine in Caltrans bribery scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/files\/membership-default-internal\/\" class=\"memberhide\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/01\/20220718_175041000_iOS.jpg\" alt=\"-\"><\/a><br\/><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\">Dive Brief:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>A California construction company owner has been ordered to pay nearly $985,000 and serve 78 months in prison for his role in a bid-rigging and bribery scheme aimed at California Department of Transportation officials to steer contracts his way, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/construction-company-owner-sentenced-78-months-prison-and-ordered-pay-nearly-1-million\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>according to a Department of Justice release<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Bill R. Miller, owner of Sanger, California-based BRM Construction, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/third-conspirator-pleads-guilty-caltrans-bid-rigging-scheme\/637689\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>previously pleaded guilty<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> to bribing a Caltrans official with more than $800,000 in cash, wine, furniture and remodeling services on his home to game the agency\u2019s bidding process from 2015 to 2019, according to court documents in the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Miller schemed with his former business partner, William D. Opp, and bribed former Caltrans contract manager Choon Foo \u201cKeith\u201d Yong to stack bids in their favor. Both Opp and Yong previously pleaded guilty to their involvement in the ruse, but Miller is the first defendant to be sentenced in the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\">Dive Insight:<\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Candice Fields, Miller\u2019s attorney in the case, did not immediately respond to Construction Dive\u2019s request for comment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThis sentence sends a strong message that criminals who corrupt the competitive bidding process will face stern consequences,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department\u2019s Antitrust Division, in the release. \u201cProtecting infrastructure spending and taxpayer dollars remains a top priority.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The probe was a partnership between the Justice Department\u2019s Antitrust Division\u2019s San Francisco office, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of California and the FBI\u2019s Sacramento Division as part of the Justice Department\u2019s Procurement Collusion Strike Force.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The strike force was formed in November 2019 to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact government procurement, grants and program funding at the federal, state and local levels. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>With the passage in 2021 of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, public funding dollars have come under <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/infrastructure-act-eeoc-probe-racism-sexism-construction\/623948\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>tougher government scrutiny<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> to ensure they are fairly and properly awarded.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5143531171910809\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- News - Bottom -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5143531171910809\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8320848692\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/contractor-sentence-6-years-jail-1m-fine-caltrans-bribery-bid-rigging\/647910\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dive Brief: A California construction company owner has been ordered to pay nearly $985,000 and serve 78 months in prison &#8230; <a title=\"Contractor gets 6 years in jail, nearly $1M fine in Caltrans bribery scheme\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/contractor-gets-6-years-in-jail-nearly-1m-fine-in-caltrans-bribery-scheme\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Contractor gets 6 years in jail, nearly $1M fine in Caltrans bribery scheme\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}