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FHWA Gets Three Year Sentence, Contractor Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy

16 November 1998

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 16, 1998

FHWA Manager Sentenced to 3-Year Jail Term;
Contractor Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy


The Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General has
announced that on Nov. 12, 1998, in the United States District Court for
the District of Columbia, Alberto Santiago, the former Chief of State
Programs at the Federal Highway Administration who resigned while under
investigation, was sentenced to 37 months incarceration, 3 years
supervised release, and fined $5,000.


On Aug. 19, 1998, Santiago pleaded guilty to conspiracy, bribery, and
money-laundering charges.  The charges were the result of Santiago's
solicitation and receipt of more than $150,000 in cash and money orders
from government contractors, who submitted fraudulent invoices on federal
highway contracts for reimbursement.  The contracts affected by the fraud
related to advanced vehicle highway technologies.  The money-laundering
charge stemmed from a scheme in which Santiago instructed a contractor to
set aside $100,000 in federal highway funds as reimbursement to a
contractor who paid him money.  The money would be wired to a company
overseas, later returned to the United States, and converted to cash.


A former Lockheed-Martin contractor  pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to a
charge of conspiring to submit false claims to the United States and to
pay unlawful gratuities to Santiago.  

Prosecutors allege contractors conspired with Santiago to submit
fraudulent claims to FHWA as a way of reimbursing the contractors for
their bribes to Santiago, who had official responsibility over the
contractors. 

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