An Illinois-based masonry company and its owner have agreed to a $7 million resolution of civil claims stemming from a 30th Street Station renovation project, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced last week.
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Officials said Mark 1 Restoration Company, along with owner Mark Snedden, provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts to an Amtrak official overseeing the project in exchange for “favorable changes to a contract.”
“Integrity in federal contracting isn’t optional,” Metcalf said in a statement. “If you try to buy favors or submit false certifications, expect both civil and criminal consequences.”
Snedden, along with three other Mark 1 executives, previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the case.
Snedden admitted then that he and the three other executives conspired to provide more than $320,000 in jewelry, vacations, cash, dinners, entertainment, and even a dog, to Ajith Bhaskaran, the Amtrak official in charge of the renovation project. In exchange, officials said, the Amtrak employee made contract modifications that resulted in $2 million in over-billing to Amtrak as part of the project.
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Snedden was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison last year as part of the criminal case.
As part of last week’s civil resolution, Snedden and his company agreed to pay $2.4 million and release Amtrak from any claim to $4.8 million “in additional funds that Amtrak retained or otherwise did not pay to Mark 1 after learning of the kickback scheme,” according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“Bribery strikes at the heart of the rule of law,” said Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division. “Stealing and misusing federal funds is not only a crime, but it betrays the trust of the communities we serve and erodes confidence in the systems they rely on.”
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