Another contractor has been charged as an Army Corps of Engineers employee is expected to plead guilty in one of the largest federal contracting bribery schemes in United States history, charging documents said. Robert L. McKinney, founder and president of the Waldorf-based Alpha Technology Group, was charged in federal court Monday with bribery of a public official, documents show.
He joins four other defendants — two Army Corps contracting officials and two businessmen — charged in the alleged $20 million kickback scheme.
Meanwhile, Michael A. Alexander, of Woodbridge, has agreed to plead guilty to bribery and conspiracy charges in federal court in D.C. next week, according to filings. Alexander, 55, faces a maximum of 15 years for the bribery and 20 years for the money laundering conspiracy, according to court filings.
According to prosecutors, the conspirators steered no-bid contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to favored businesses and lined their pockets with $20 million in taxpayer money paid to them or promised by contractors.
At the time of their arrest in October, the conspirators were scheming to steer a nearly $800 million contract to a favored contractor, prosecutors said.
Arrested with Alexander was Army Corps contracting employee Kerry F. Khan, 53, of Alexandria. The other two men arrested were Khan’s son, Lee A. Khan, 30, of Fairfax, and Harold F. Babb, 60, of Sterling. Babb is director of contracts for EyakTek, an Alaska Native-owned small business based in Dulles.
In about 2007, Kerry Khan told McKinney there would be “overhead” costs associated with doing business with the Army Corps through him, prosecutors alleged in new filings.
McKinney understood that the term “overhead” was derived from materials and services that were billed to the government but never actually provided, documents said.
Between 2007 and 2008, prosecutors said, McKinney’s Alpha Technology Group submitted invoices to the Army Corps of Engineers for $1.8 million. Of that amount, about $850,000 was materials and services that ATG did not provide.
Khan was kicked back about $600,000 of the money paid by the Army Corps, and ATG kept the about $250,000, documents said.
