A senior engineer at the Washington Navy Yard and a founder of a Georgia-based technology services company have been charged in a $10 million kickback and bribery scheme, federal prosecutors announced. Ralph M. Mariano, 52, of Arlington, and Anjan Dutta-Gupta, 58, of Roswell, Ga., were charged and released last week in a Rhode Island federal court. The men face up to 15 years in prison and fines of $250,000 if convicted of the federal bribery charges. Prosecutors said the kickback scheme goes back to 1998 and has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars, most of which was funneled back to Mariano, his father, brother, girlfriend and associates.

In return, prosecutors said, Dutta-Gupta’s Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow technology company received lucrative contracts. The Georgia-based company has an office in Rhode Island and 10 Navy contracts worth $120 million.