Owners of a North Carolina construction company face charges they fraudulently obtained federal contracts using preferences reserved for small businesses run by disadvantaged minorities or disabled veterans, according to federal prosecutors.
Four individuals were indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges, including Ricky and Katrina Lanier, owners of a construction company based in Kinston, N.C., it was announced Tuesday.
The charges allege the couple conspired with the other two defendants, Latoya Montrevette Speight of Snow Hill, N.C., and Emanuel Louis Hill of Louisville, Ky., to obtain federal work using set-asides and sole-source contracts for which they did not qualify.
The sealed indictment was issued in the Eastern District of Tennessee in August. The four pleaded not guilty at a court hearing Tuesday.
Ricky Lanier owned a construction company that obtained about $23.4 million in federal contracts between 2001 and 2007 using a preference in federal bidding laws that set aside work for disadvantaged small businesses, including those owned and operated by blacks, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans.
Lanier’s company no longer qualified by 2007.
A new company affiliated with Hill, Kylee Construction Co., was created in 2005. Hill left the Army in 1997 due to a service-connected disability.
Applications were filed beginning in May 2009 for Kylee to be certified as both a disadvantaged small business, and, later, as a Service-Connected, Veteran-Owned Small Business.
Between February 2010 and April 2013, Kylee received more than $5 million in sole-source and set-aside contracts under the veterans’ program in Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky and other states, according to the indictment.
To qualify as a SDVOSB, the company must be owned and controlled by a qualified, disabled veteran.
But in reality, Kylee was controlled by the Laniers and Speight, according to the indictment.
The Laniers and Speight also are accused of running a similar scheme involving a different company that obtained contracts reserved for minority-owned businesses.
The contracts were issued by the departments of Veterans Affairs and Interior, according to the indictment.
