Energy Dept. official accused of fraud
A former Department of Energy executive and his wife have been indicted for allegedly defrauding the federal government by secretly causing the department to award contracts that benefitted them personally.
Prosecutors allege that 69-year-old Michael Strayer, a member of the Senior Executive Service for the department, used funds he controlled to start a magazine called SciDAC Review to promote his division’s advanced computing work in 2004. Over the next several years, he allegedly arranged for government contracts to pay 48-year-old Karen Earle for bogus services related to producing the magazine.
Prosecutors say the magazine’s publisher paid Earle more than $1.2 million in consulting fees and subcontract payments using the Energy Department money that funded the magazine.
Ringleader pleads guilty in contracting scam
The ringleader of the largest federal contracting bribery and kickback scheme ever uncovered pleaded guilty Thursday, U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen Jr. announced.
Kerry Khan, a former program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering in a scheme that allegedly involved more than $30 million in bribes and kickback payments.
Federal investigators said they stopped the conspirators from steering a government contract worth up to $1 billion back to themselves.
Khan’s son, Lee A. Khan, 31, of Fairfax, also pleaded guilty to money laundering charge in the case on Thursday. In total, eight people have pleaded guilty.
Man slain in car in Fairfax
A man who was found in a car with gunshot wounds in Fairfax County has died, police said.
About 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, the 47-year-old man was found near San Leandro Place and Mendocina Place in the Mount Vernon area. The man was pronounced dead at a hospital. Police are investigating the incident as a homicide.
— Emily Babay, Scott McCabe and Naomi Jagoda
