EX-VA employee admits to $1.3 million ripoff

Former Veterans Affairs Employee Admits Fraud, $1.3 Million in Kickbacks
Wall Street Journal
By Michael Calia
September 18, 2013

A former employee of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday admitted to engaging in a scheme to defraud the department as well as accepting nearly $1.3 million in kickbacks for contracts awarded to companies with which he had relationships, the Justice Department said.

Jarod Machinga, a 43-year-old resident of Hopewell, N.J., pleaded guilty in federal court in Trenton to one count of honest services wire fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property.

Mr. Machinga has taken responsibility for his actions, said defense counsel Fortunado N. Perri. "He intends to make full restitution, and hopefully this will be the first step toward moving forward with his life," Mr. Perri added.

Mr. Machinga, who worked as a supervisory engineer at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center's West Orange, N.J., campus, worked with a person, identified by the Justice Department as "Individual 1," to set up three companies that could be used to get construction work from the VA.
read more here