Boss gets 3 years over $5M kickback scheme

President of NM-based defense contractor Laguna Construction admits wire fraud, conspiracy

The president of a New Mexico-based defense contractor, Neal Kasper, 68, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court to more than three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to his involvement in a $5 million kickback scheme to award construction subcontracts for rebuilding projects in Iraq.

Kasper, of Great Falls, Mont., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to provide, solicit and accept kickbacks while he was president of the Laguna Construction Company, and accepting $204,356 in payments from subcontractors between April 2007 and November 2008.

Senior U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez sen-

tenced Kasper to 41 months of imprisonment followed by two years of supervised release and ordered him to forfeit $431,911, which represents part of the net profit he derived from the crimes with which he was charged in this case.

Vazquez also sentenced Kasper’s wife, Tiffany White, 51, of Cibolo, Texas, to one day of imprisonment, or time served, followed by two years of supervised release.

White was ordered to pay $33,997 in restitution to the IRS and to forfeit jointly with Kasper $136,827 to the United States.

White pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge in the superseding indictment and a felony information charging her with one count of filing a false tax return.

In her plea agreement, White admitted that while she was the company’s compliance manager for federal contracts, she submitted subcontract bids to Kasper and the company’s vice president of operations, Bradley Christiansen, without proper compliance review and with knowledge that the bids would be altered so that particular subcontractors would be selected.

The selected subcontractors then paid kickbacks to Kasper, White and Christiansen.

Christiansen has also pleaded guilty in the scheme and is awaiting sentencing.

The company, a minority disadvantaged business wholly owned by the Pueblo of Laguna, successfully bid for and was awarded multiple contracts by the military for wartime reconstruction and rebuilding projects in Iraq and Jordan. From 2003 through 2009, the company handled more than $350 million of Iraqi and Jordanian reconstruction contracts.

No members of the Laguna tribe were ever charged in the scheme.

Instead of putting contracts out to bid as required, business was awarded to subcontractors on the basis of kickback payments made to the company’s officers.

Christiansen pleaded guilty in July 2013 to conspiracy to provide, solicit and accept kickbacks, and to solicitation and receipt of kickbacks and tax evasion.

In his plea agreement, Christiansen admitted receiving his first kickback in December 2004 through Kasper, who had received a $20,000 kickback and shared half with Christiansen.

Christiansen admitted that from January 2005 through February 2009, Kasper and he received numerous kickbacks from foreign nationals, which they split 50/50.

In addition to approximately $360,000 in monetary kickbacks, Christiansen also admitted to receiving a 2006 Porsche Cayman valued at $65,163, a Ford GT350 Shelby valued at $290,000 and several watches valued at an aggregate of $103,800 as kickbacks from the foreign nationals.

Christiansen also admitted that he failed to declare the kickback payments and assets he received from the foreign nationals as personal income when filing his federal income tax returns, evading approximately $389,413 in federal taxes.

Three foreign nationals remain under indictment and are considered fugitives.