Justice Dept. Investigates Pa. Contractor Tied to Murtha

Washington Post ^ | May 25, 2009 | Carol D. Leonnig

[jazusamo]

In tiny, cash-strapped Monongahela, Pa., the city clerk was stunned when federal investigators arrived this fall with a subpoena seeking information on a crime-fighting grant she'd never heard of. She takes pride in tracking every dollar in the municipal budget.

The $15,000 federal grant was to buy police radios and other equipment to protect the city's 4,700 residents, but it had traveled an unusual route, never crossing the clerk's desk.

Over the past five years, a local defense contractor with close ties to Rep. John P. Murtha, a Democrat who has represented southwestern Pennsylvania for three decades, has selected several small police departments in the region to receive $10 million in Justice Department grants.

The company, Mountaintop Technologies, was selected by the lawmaker in a series of earmarks to hand out and monitor the grants. As it distributed the money to the departments, the firm would explain each time that it was arriving through the largess of Murtha -- often just before fall elections.

Once she learned from the investigators that Monongahela's police department was getting money outside of normal channels, City Clerk Carole Foglia was disturbed.

"I wasn't happy with the situation at all," Foglia said. "I didn't want to be involved in anything that was done improperly, because that's not the way I work in my office. And this was improper. No question about it."

The tale of how a defense company ended up getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to distribute federal police grants is a chapter in a larger story of Mountaintop Technologies, its far-flung operations and its dependence on Murtha. The Johnstown firm has received at least $36 million in the past eight years in earmarks and military contracts, without competition and with the backing of Murtha, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations...

[jazusamo]

Yet another company involved in the federal investigation that's connected to Murtha.

This article related to another thread just posted.

Report: Justice Department Probes Contractor With Murtha Ties

[jazusamo]

Carol Leonnig at the Washington Post has uncovered yet another company involved in the investigation of earmarks and no bid contracts facilitated by Murtha.

Murtha Watch Ping!

Code Pinkos

To be added to the Murtha Watch ping list please notify myself or RedRover.

[RC2]

The next big question should be...”Was the new equipment actually purchased or did the money go to friends of Murtha?”

[Liz]

AP article on Fox News---Tuesday May 12, 2009

House Democrats on Tuesday stopped a Republican plan to force a campaign finance inquiry that likely would have investigated several influential Democrats. It was the eighth time since late February that the Republican move was halted.

One of the biggest recipients has been the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania. The vote was 215-182 to stop consideration of a GOP resolution to initiate a House ethics committee inquiry. It called for an investigation into campaign contributions to House lawmakers by recipients of pet project money and their lobbyists. ... (Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political money: three lawmakers received huge amounts of political donations from PMA lobbyists,their clients, and the companies it has represented since 1989.....Murtha collected $2.37 million, Visclosky collected $1.36 million; Moran, $997,348.

There are any number of agencies that investigate government fraud (listed here).

POSSIBLE CRIMES Government fraud, conspiracy to steal; theft of public property and official records; money laundering; US postal fraud; electronic fraud.

REPORT TAX FRAUD AND TAX LAW VIOLATIONS HERE:
IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433----you may remain anonymous.
EMAIL----OAAG.Tax@tax.USDOJ.gov

The IRS should determine if all taxes were paid (stolen money is taxable).
IRS TOLL-FREE 1-800-829-0433—-you may remain anonymous when reporting tax fraud.

Fiduciary negligence; signing off on falsified official documents is reported here :
EMAIL askDOJ@usdoj.gov

FBI TIP PAGE http://tips.fbi.gov/ (you may remain anonymous)

If publicly-held companies are involved
EMAIL enforcement@SEC.gov

Report possible campaign finance fraud
EMAIL Federal Election Commission

[Liz]

A lobbying firm, PMA, was raided by the FBI last year. One of the biggest recipients has been the chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania.

BACKSTORY John Murtha’s nephew gets millions in Pentagon contracts without competition......to a facility that appears non-productive. "Murtech" is located in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park......with blinds drawn tight, and few signs of life. On several days of observation, a handful of cars sit in the parking lot, and no trucks arrive at the 10 loading bays at the back of the building. Yet, last year alone, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, all of it without competition, for a variety of warehousing and engineering services.

The Washington Post notes that Robert’s not the only Murtha doing government business............His father, John Murtha’s brother Robert Sr, runs another highly-successful lobbying group, KSA, that specializes in — wait for it — defense contracts from the Appropriations Committee.

There may be good reasons to occasionally award no-bid contracts for highly specialized work, but warehousing doesn’t fall into that category. Granting no-bid Pentagon contracts to a powerful Congressman’s nephew screams for an investigation, and a deeper look at the “culture of corruption” that seems to surround John Murtha and his allies on Capitol Hill.

COMMENTS There's so many crimes being committed here it's not even funny. Can you say government fraud, conspiracy, kickbacks, money laundering? Conspiracy counts might include mail fraud, electronic fraud, and accounting fraud.

L/E might consider:

(a) conspiracy to defraud the IRS, and evade US banking laws,

(b) international money laundering,

(c) conspiracy to commit money laundering, and,

(d) aiding and abetting the preparation of false federal/state income tax returns.

Authorities might examine the company's receipts to falsely verify bogus charitable contributions (kickbacks) and multiple conspiracies and transfers of funds as part of a money-laundering conspiracy.

Government audits might show off-the-books bank accounts that were accessed solely by insiders, and that government-funds were used in various illegal schemes that might have integrated:

(1) money laundering,

(2) tax evasion (stolen money is taxable),

(3) violations of US banking and currency laws,

(4) conspiracy to commit wire fraud,

(5) commercial bribery in various financial schemes,

(6) establishing secret offshore bank accounts outside the purview of the IRS and US banking laws,

(7) fraudulent and casual accounting practices,

(8) non-existent financial oversight,

(9) Having a hidden financial interest in companies faking business with Murtech,

(10) Putting phantom employees on the payroll (money laundering).

[jazusamo]

Thanks for your posts, Liz.

[pepsionice]

I will suggest to you the method as to how this works. They get the money and they get a source from where they can buy “x”. The source where they buy the gear...is in on the deal as well.

So to the items that they will buy: high precision rifles, military assault gear, quad-bikes, night-vision goggles (normal end & extremely high end), boats, digital cameras, and ammo.

Call it toys....call it whatever you want. The boys will hault the stuff in, and in six to twelve months...realize that half the stuff has no value in their operations or just sit in the storage shed. You have to be careful about quickly turning an item and selling it on the open market. Most market their excess equipment after a year, so no grant problems exist if some did do a audit.

The high-end stuff...like the night-vision goggles are mandated to be sold to only law enforcement agencies.

My hometown...which shall be left unnamed....got funds from homeland security to buy a speedboat. This was supposed to be used to protect the local dam (over four miles away from the city) from terrorists. The boys typically use it for alcohol issues on the lake. They rake in around $5k a weekend for alcohol violations in the summer. They hired another cop...now a pretty big police force operation (four full-timers) for a town of barely 800 people.

[Liz]

You are vey welcome.

[CapnJack]

Does anyone here think that this will in any way hurt Murtha?

He will have his job for as long as he wants it.

There is no one in his district that will ever be able to take it away from him.

[jazusamo]

There are two ways that Fat Jack can be hurt.

The first way is being defeated in his district which most everyone concedes is an uphill battle.

The second is the ongoing federal investigation that he and his cronies deny is about him. The strange thing is that every company being investigated is a company he has either gotten started with earmarks or has gotten large earmarks and no bid contracts for after they’ve set up an office in his hometown of Johnstown.

If he’s eventually indicted and convicted he’ll be getting what he deserves for 35 plus years of corruption and yes, I do think that’ll hurt him.

[RedRover]

...I do think that’ll hurt him.

Yup!

A blessed Memorial Day, jaz, to you and yours!

[jazusamo]

Hiya Red, and a blessed Memorial Day to you and yours.

This Carol Leonnig has been doing a good job of investigative reporting on Murtha, hope she keeps it up.

[Tribune7]

ping

[tioga]

wasn’t there a certain senator in Alaska who was “untouchable”?

[jazusamo]

Good point...It seems there’s really no member of Congress who is truly untouchable and the more arrogant they become the more likely they are to be shot down. Murtha has become extremely arrogant.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[ArmyTeach]

Yes, and the Democrats brought him down. But Stevens is out of office only because, with the messy trial ongoing, Buggitch beat him by a few votes. The prosecution was so slimy and and blatantly unethical that the irate judge said in his heated closing comments that he had never seen such prosecutorial malfeasance. There's talk of the prosecuting lawyers facing charges, but I doubt that it will happen. Meanwhile, blowhard Buggitch has accomplished zip, nada.