A former US air force master sergeant who nicknamed himself “Al Capone” has pleaded guilty to defrauding the military branch out of $37m by inflating the cost of IT contracts – and giving some of the extra money to an individual he called “Godfather”.
Alan Hayward James, from Texas, ran a nine-year scam, beginning in April 2016, which also saw him funnel excess funds to himself, his family and his co-conspirators.
James, 51, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy to rig bids for the US Pacific air forces based in Hawaii. In a plea agreement, James admitted conspiring with multiple competitors to rig bids for IT contracts with the US defense department
He “knowingly conspired” with co-conspirators and companies in a manner which “falsely inflated” the value of contracts, the justice department said. James encouraged some companies to overbid and others to underbid for services. In one instance, he told a company to submit a bid for an IT contract that was “low and stupid”, which effectively led to a co-conspirator company winning the contract at an inflated rate.
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