To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
Posted on 06/04/2009 2:51:12 PM PDT by jazusamo
A Johnstown-area defense firm under investigation for possible contract fraud received an infusion of cash during its start-up years from a narcotics trafficker with whom one of the company's founders admitted engaging in the drug trade.
At the time, Kuchera Industries was a startup company that assembled electronics components and sought federal contracts -- contracts that would ultimately make the company and its sister firm, Kuchera Defense Systems, multimillion-dollar businesses.
Peter Whorley, a Florida man and business associate of William Kuchera, one of the top officers at the companies, put up $50,000 to help Kuchera Industries find its feet, according to court records. Kept on the Kuchera books as a consultant receiving "special commissions," Mr. Whorley later helped the company in its unsuccessful efforts to land a contract with the United States Census Bureau in the mid-1980s.
Mr. Whorley's $50,000 line of funding, and whether it amounted to a loan or a share of the company, became the subject of a bitter legal battle between the two former partners who, according to a deposition by William Kuchera, were once associates in the narcotics trade.
The role of Mr. Whorley, as well as Mr. Kuchera's past as a marijuana dealer, surfaced amid a federal investigation of the Kuchera companies.
What was unclear was whether Mr. Kuchera's narcotics conviction should have precluded him or his company from receiving a security clearance that would enable the firm to perform defense work.
Department of Defense spokesmen did not respond to requests to explain the firm's status and the possible effects that a felony conviction would have on the Kuchera companies' eligibility for defense work.
Loren Thompson, who heads the Lexington Institute, a Washington-area think tank that deals with defense procurement issues, said he believed a narcotics conviction would be sufficient to disqualify Mr. Kuchera.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
The thought plickens!
To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.
While it doesn’t look like Kuchera Industries was founded with drug money it looks like it had an infusion of it during its early years.
Yes it does and there’s more to think about if this is true.
1. Did the drug dealers launder money through this company also?
2. Does the govt. know that this company was partially started with drug money?
3. Can the govt. seize all of Kuchera’s assets seeing as this company was partially started with drug money?
Hopefully the investigative reporters will find these things out shorty. It’s fairly certain the fed investigation won’t be releasing this info very soon.
It appears that this is the tip of an iceberg.
The forfeiture issue is a good one. Can the govt. seize assets as drug money went into this company?
Does anyone have the answer?? Seems to me that assets should be seized if the Govt. can get the proof.
The answers to those questions are over my head but there are attorneys here at FR and I’d like to see some comments from them.
The IRS needs to look at Murtha’s spending habits to see if he is speding more than his salary.....Same goes for the founders of Acorn, The Sandfers, Soros etc. Use the old Al Capone methods!
I wonder if Murtha is getting envelops kicked up to him. No!! He would not do that. Oh, I forgot about the abscam tape.
I don’t know what else to do but laugh.
We the People need to appoint a czar to deal with DC.....The Czar of Zot.
Why? They will just get Department of Justice positions and so on and so forth.
You won’t find the money in his bank account....Freezer or off shore account.....But if the IRS were to examine his spending habits...Including things that he paid case for, I’d bet the has more going out than officially coming in.
;-)
LOL! Yea, they look rough and tough. Skip, skip, skip tumalou.
An excellent post, Smooth, so appropriate.
Birds of a feather!
An interesting thought. The fed investigation that’s ongoing is the FBI, DOD and the IRS. If they investigate Murtha as well as the other companies the IRS just might find something.
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