Ex-Pentagon Officials Sentenced in Fraud (Clinton appointees - mine)

AP ^ | December 12, 2003

[Leroy S. Mort]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Two former top Pentagon officials each were sentenced Friday to 24 1/3 years in prison for taking more than $1 million in bribes and accepting prostitutes from government contractors.

Robert Lee Neal Jr., 51, and Francis Delano Jones Jr., 51, also were ordered to jointly pay $1.75 million in restitution. The Maryland men were convicted in U.S. District Court in July of conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

Neal was appointed by President Clinton in 1996 to serve as director of the Pentagon's office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (SADBU), which helps minority-owned businesses obtain defense contracts. Jones, his top assistant, joined the office in 1999.

Federal prosecutors said the men demanded bribes as high as $100,000 in certain cases and received $1.1 million in bribes and other illegal funds from businesses seeking government contracts.

The men victimized the minority contract firms whose interests they were supposed to represent, prosecutors said.

Neal was unrepentant.

``The government doesn't get it,'' he told federal judge James C. Cacheris. ``I have given up my family life for small businesses. ... That was my job, helping small businesses to gain access. That's what I was doing.''

One witness testified at the two men's trial that he provided the men with prostitutes at a government conference in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He said his company received two contracts worth $1.4 million with the help of Neal and Jones.

Another witness said he provided prostitutes for the men and paid for a 1997 trip to Las Vegas to see a heavyweight title bout between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

Prosecutors said Neal and Jones laundered much of the money they received through a sham company and offshore accounts. The government estimated the value of the tainted contracts was $20 million.

Defense attorneys argued Friday that this total was inflated. The government's estimated loss figure was used in determining sentence.

``The fact the government can argue for what they did, doesn't mean they should,'' said Jones' attorney, David Barger. ``I hope (Jones) lives long enough to get out of jail.''

Both Neal and Jones said they plan to appeal. Their lawyers have questioned the reliability of government witnesses, some of whom were drug users who received immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony.

[Pagey]

conspiracy, extortion, money laundering, witness tampering and obstruction of justice

Boy that sounds familiar. Nothing like a Clinton appointee taking the example from the chief executive's behavior. This is another classic example of the 'Clinton trickle-down' theory.

[Pagey]

A 'For historical purposes of course' BUMP!!!

[jimtorr]

Neal was unrepentant.

``The government doesn't get it,'' he told federal judge James C. Cacheris. ``I have given up my family life for small businesses. ... That was my job, helping small businesses to gain access. That's what I was doing.''

This is rich. He's basically saying here that his salary was too low, and he deserved more compensation.

[centurion316]

The press attention that this receives over the next few days needs to be compared with that attending to the current Halliburton gas gouging flap. Anyone out there want to make any predictions?

[Criminal Number 18F]

Not only do they not mention that Neal and Jones are Democrats and former Clinton administration officials, they don't mention that they're minority group members.

(Officials of the "small and disadvantaged" programs are often minorities, which makes sense because it the Small and DIsadvantaged program is essentially a spoils system for uncompetitive minority businesses).

Until recently, there was a profile and photo of Neal here:

www.nbbc.org/government/ Profiles/neal.html

But they seem to have deleted it (maybe the convictions cause them to lose the courage). A Google Image search on "Robert L. Neal" does show a small picture of him, that once lived on this site.

There is a story on Neal and Jones, that claims that they were "affirmative action" tokens, on adversity.net. It says it's be based on a Jerry Seper story from the Washington Times, but adds information on Neal's past assignments -- the guy seems to be a "professional token" if this stuff is true.

http://www.adversity.net/fed_stats/fednews_DOD.htm

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:BydwG_yy23cJ:www.adversity.net/fed_stats/fednews_DOD.htm+Neal+Jones+SADBU&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
[Google cache]

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021019-77594800.htm
[Seper story]

These PDFs are official DOD IG releases on Neal and Jones:

http://www.dodig.osd.mil/IGInformation/IGInformationReleases/NEAL.pdf

http://www.dodig.osd.mil/IGInformation/IGInformationReleases/jones_neal_verdict.pdf

http://www.dodig.osd.mil/IGInformation/IGInformationReleases/neal_jones012403.pdf

http://www.dodig.osd.mil/IGInformation/IGInformationReleases/coachman051503.pdf

(the last one describes ANOTHER scam artist, Karen Coachman, who was involved in various scams with Neal and Jones. It goes into detail about some of the tawdry ripoffs these losers used).

I don't think that any race has an edge as far as criminality is concerned. I do think spoils systems (whether racial or not) do inevitably bring about misconduct, both in the favoured and disfavoured groups. QED.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Gritty]

This just isn't fair.

Their mentor, bill clinton, accepted bribes and got away with it, and even gave away our nuclear secrets. These guys get only chump change and a little nookie and go to jail for 24 years.

It just isn't fair!!

[Criminal Number 18F]

He gave up diddly! One of the things that investigators recovered from his house was a gold Rolex watch. Not to be outdone, Jones had one too (Source: that Jerry Seper story.

This is a brochure for the "mentor-protege" program that was at the core of one of their scams:

http://www.dau.mil/pubs/pm/pmpdf01/cj1-ja.pdf

Hmm, I wonder if the Sharon Jones in that brochure is related to Franklin D., soon to be of FCI-somewhere?

This is the original indictment against these two yardbirds.

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae/ArchivePress/JanuaryPDFArchive/neal_jonesindict012403.pdf

Here's somebody complaining about corruption and inefficiency at SADBU, with a mention of "alleged" corruption of Neal and Jones. Heh heh, update your site, guy, cause it ain't "alleged" no more.

http://www.zyn.com/sbir/sbired2.htm

And here's an older FR thread on Rolex Neal and Rolex Jones:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/772085/posts

"The two left their government jobs in June 2001 as part of the turnover in administration." You don't say. Wasn't that the one that somebody said was going to be "the most ethical administration in history?"

Sayonara, guys. See you in a quarter century, if you live that long. You've lost your rolexes, but where you're going you can tell time with a calendar.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Criminal Number 18F]

Here's a ping for those who posted to a thread about Mr Neal, Mr Jones, and DOD's SADBU corruption scandal, back in 2002. Update!

I think I got everybody...

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[jocko12]

I HOPE THIS IS JUST THE START OF COLLECTING GOVT. CROOKS.

[sarasmom]

Great find!

Hope you find more!
I love the smell of corrupt government offials burning in the evening!

[tracer]

Afro-mative Action is my term for the vile scourge of reverse-discrimination that has infested the Government and indeed the Nation for so many years.

Martin Luther King did not approve of or seek it and most of the accomplished members of "minority" groups have eschewed it as degrading and unnecessary for their success.

And history has proven the likes of Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and Condie Rice to have been correct....

[Alamo-Girl]

Jeepers... Thanks for the ping!

[montag813]

The press attention that this receives over the next few days needs to be compared with that attending to the current Halliburton gas gouging flap

Yep. Even Bush unfortunately felt the need to make a statement on the Haliburton nonsense. Does Dick Cheney have to pass away to no longer have his name mentioned in the first paragraph of every Halliburton story? Jeez, he has not been with them for 5 years and owns no stock! Funny how Terry Mculiffe avoids similar mention in Global Crossing stories.

[gaspar]

What does Bush have aides for if he can't even speak intelligently on the Halliburton-gas brouhaha?

[scouse]

Francis Delano Jones Jr., 51

Now students; which former President had the middle name of Delano?....Anyone?...Anyone?...He was a democRAT....anyone?

[Wumpus Hunter]

I wonder what they did BEFORE being appointed. Maybe they were cellmates of Clinton's idiot brother Roger, or pimps and dealers.

Actual experience or job qualifications isn't a prerequisite for liberals.

[syriacus]

Thank you, very much, for the ping.

It's wonderful to get to read the ending to the story.

[A juror]

I served as a juror on this case back in June/July, and I can tell you that this sentence certainly is fair. If you sat through the 40+ hours of testimonies from various witnesses, you would likely agree. These two people were reprehensible, taking advantage of the very people they were supposed to support. Our jury verdict was not made lightly - it took us nearly 2 days to decide whether they were guilty on all counts. And they absolutely were. As far as sentencing goes, they got what they deserved.

[Gritty]

I have no doubt they were guilty as charged. You must not have seen my invisible {/sarcasm} tags.

As a prime source, do you have any other information you can share? Any ideas where these people "came from"?