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CEO of Major Defense Contractor Charged with Bribery
JUSTICE NEWS
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 18, 2021
CEO of Major Defense Contractor Charged with Bribery
The chief executive officer (CEO) of Multinational Logistics Services (MLS), a large ship husbanding company that has received over $1 billion in U.S. Navy contracts since 2010, appeared in the United States today to face a criminal charge for his alleged participation in a bribery scheme.
According to the affidavit in support of a criminal complaint filed in September, Frank S. Rafaraci, 68, a U.S. citizen who resides abroad, has been the CEO of MLS since at least 2005. MLS is a defense contractor that provides ship husbanding services, such as refueling and stocking provisions, to U.S. Navy ships at ports worldwide. From approximately 2010 to the present, the U.S. Navy, other U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) components, and U.S. government civilian agencies awarded husbanding services contracts to MLS worth approximately $1.3 billion. The affidavit further alleges that, beginning in 2011, Rafaraci was involved in a wide-ranging scheme to bribe U.S. Navy officials, defraud the U.S. Navy using falsely inflated invoices, and launder the proceeds of the scheme through shell companies Rafaraci had set up in the United Arab Emirates, all in an effort to benefit MLS. Rafaraci made his initial appearance earlier today before U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Frank Rafaraci allegedly defrauded the Navy, bribed a Navy official, and laundered money through foreign bank accounts for years,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division remains committed to combating fraud and corruption in defense contracting around the world.”
“This defendant is alleged to have engaged in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud the U.S. Navy and bribe public officials for his own gain,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to pursue and hold accountable those that seek to take advantage of our military through corruption and fraud.”
“The criminal case against Rafaraci is the result of painstaking investigative efforts by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) agents, and our partner agencies,” said Special Agent in Charge Stanley A. Newell of the DCIS Transnational Operations Field Office. “Let today’s action serve as a sobering reminder to those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the U.S. military and American taxpayers. DCIS is resolutely committed to ensuring the integrity of the DoD’s global procurement operations.”
According to the affidavit in support of a criminal complaint filed in September, Frank S. Rafaraci, 68, a U.S. citizen who resides abroad, has been the CEO of MLS since at least 2005. MLS is a defense contractor that provides ship husbanding services, such as refueling and stocking provisions, to U.S. Navy ships at ports worldwide. From approximately 2010 to the present, the U.S. Navy, other U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) components, and U.S. government civilian agencies awarded husbanding services contracts to MLS worth approximately $1.3 billion. The affidavit further alleges that, beginning in 2011, Rafaraci was involved in a wide-ranging scheme to bribe U.S. Navy officials, defraud the U.S. Navy using falsely inflated invoices, and launder the proceeds of the scheme through shell companies Rafaraci had set up in the United Arab Emirates, all in an effort to benefit MLS. Rafaraci made his initial appearance earlier today before U.S. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
“Frank Rafaraci allegedly defrauded the Navy, bribed a Navy official, and laundered money through foreign bank accounts for years,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division remains committed to combating fraud and corruption in defense contracting around the world.”
“This defendant is alleged to have engaged in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud the U.S. Navy and bribe public officials for his own gain,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to pursue and hold accountable those that seek to take advantage of our military through corruption and fraud.”
“The criminal case against Rafaraci is the result of painstaking investigative efforts by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) agents, and our partner agencies,” said Special Agent in Charge Stanley A. Newell of the DCIS Transnational Operations Field Office. “Let today’s action serve as a sobering reminder to those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the U.S. military and American taxpayers. DCIS is resolutely committed to ensuring the integrity of the DoD’s global procurement operations.”
Yesterday's news I haven't yet read or heard reporting on.
Shout out to Mineral Man for providing a link to the Justice Department News in a different thread on a different subject, but related to the DOJ
Bunch of other Justice news published there. This one is particularly interesting in that this corrupt Defense Contractor CEO was known to have been money laundering and engaged in bribery with Naval and Marine Defense officials since 2011, if I'm reading this accurately.
Good to know our DOJ is on the case even if it took over a decade to get to the "charging" part of the prosecuting stage.
At first glance I had not seen any news releases regarding Jan 6th. I'll take a little closer look, but this article I felt was newsworthy and would be of interest to DU readers.
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I think that was the first time for me anyway.
I just spent a little more time there. There are several other stories worthy of posting, but I can't invest in that kind of time.. too many other things I'm juggling.
Still, I would abandon all other tasks if we found certain other items were included in that list which we've all been hankering to see posted in the news.
