The former founder and chief executive officer of an Arlington technology firm has pleaded guilty to paying off a federal agency employee to help his company obtain $4.5 million in contracts.
A niece of the unnamed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation employee worked for Irving Gilmore Rodrigues at Avalon Technology Inc., and helped Rodrigues transfer about $134,000 to her uncle, prosecutors wrote in court documents filed in Alexandria’s federal court Tuesday. Rodrigues admitted to paying only $16,134.
“The payments were made to [the FDIC employee] for, and because of, official acts performed, and to be performed, by [the employee] in the award of FDIC contracts to Avalon,” Rodrigues admitted in court documents.
Calls to Avalon for this story were not returned.
The employee, referred to only as “D.S.” in court records, was a supervisor for the FDIC’s Telecommunications Section from 1998 to 2005. The section evaluates telecommunication equipment, software and other services provided by companies vying for FDIC contracts. In May 2004, the FDIC put out a request for technology companies to propose a system that would allow its bank inspectors working in bank branches to establish secure communication lines with the federal insurance agency, court documents said. Rodrigues submitted a proposal for Avalon and it was reviewed by employees who worked directly for D.S. His employees approved Avalon’s proposal and the FDIC awarded Avalon the $4.5 million contract. Avalon had done millions of dollars worth of work for the FDIC beyond just the one contract, Rodrigues admitted. The records do not indicate that D.S. has been charged. An FDIC spokesman on Tuesday declined to comment for this story. Rodrigues had more than 25 years experience in the telecommunications industry, according to a company Web site. He founded Avalon in the late 1990s after a career spent working for telecom providers. Now he’s facing up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced Oct. 9. He has been released on $25,000 bail and must remain in the Washington area until sentencing, court records said. Rodrigues’ attorney, Robert Trout, did not return calls for comment.
