The economy is tight for everyone in America today. As we interact with our friends, neighbors, relatives and long-distance relations - we hear the war stories from the front-lines of business - the stories are not always positive. There are jobs, but there are many job losses. There are fiscal gains and success-stories, but many financial woes and crumbling businesses. If we leave the city and suburbs and head to more rural areas of living, the obviousness of the economic issues become visually apparent.
In the Washington Metropolitan area many folks say, we are somewhat insulated from the despair of the economy. We are blessed to be located within scope of the nation's capital and stationed among major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Pittsburgh, etc. Our vision and experience, while affected by economic circumstance is somewhat protected. If we travel though, just three to four hours in any direction away from the cities - the realities of our current economy become visible. There is a marked difference in lifestyle and circumstances.
Perhaps, this is why crimes against our economy are heinous to us as citizens. Certainly, many of us within the Washington DC corridor are involved in government work in some way, shape or form. So, when four local Virginia men, including two employees of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are arrested on bribery and kickback charges to the tune of $20 million along with planned steering of another $780 million in government contract towards favored contractors - the hackles come up our spine.
While some local residents may have the occasional need to work overtime, or carry multiple jobs, in order to make ends meet. We all hope and pray we won't have to tap into our 401K or CDs to keep from mortgage defaults or need to borrow money we may not repay right away from our family, friends or co-workers in order to persevere. We work diligently to manage and meet our needs. And, three-fourths of the time we do so. Our measures of success are accomplished through honest and forthright means, so blights on our government industry and local livelihood hit us hard. The unscrupulous affect all of us. These are not only monetary losses, a greater generalized faith in our system is found faulty, and these acts are not just crimes against government funding, these are acts against all citizens.
In what is described as one of the most brazen acts of corruption in the history of federal contracting, this is, unfortunately not an "only" case. The indictment against Kerry Khan, 53, of Alexandria and Michael Alexander, 55, of Woodbridge is served towards USACE where they are employed. These men funneled more than $45 million in payments to a favored company through a federal government contract they oversaw. And, they intended to steer hundreds of millions more to the business. Additionally, it is alleged these men built $20 million in fraudulent expenses into company invoices with proceeds lining their pockets. The most significant cash outlays were towards multiple properties, luxury cars, airline tickets, watches, and, in the case of the Khans - $383,000 payment to a family member who threatened to alert authorities about their scheme. The plot thickens with money laundering and attempts to bribe government officials.
It will be some time until this case is processed and these types of cases don't necessarily result in a lot of press; however, it is unfortunate these sorts of alleged activities occur in our marketplace at all. With the unfortunatism of the economy affecting so many Americans - it is a somber note that nearly $845,000,000.00 of glutonous financing occurred to accommodate the appetites of less than a handful of men while the masses pray their next paycheck will arrive in time to keep the wolves at bay in their small businesses, neighborhoods and homes.
Read more:
4 Nabbed in Government Bribery Investigation
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