Former federal contractor pleads guilty to kickbacks

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — A Florida man who worked as a project manager for a company that has done more than $200 million of dollars in energy efficiency work for the U.S. government pleaded guilty Monday to charges he took more than $2.5 million in kickbacks and bribes over a five-year period from subcontractors he was overseeing.

Bhaskar Patel of Windermere, Florida, entered the plea during a hearing in federal court in Rutland.

He is facing up to 10 years in prison for violating a law against taking kickbacks and bribes involving federal programs. The plea agreement also calls for the 67-year-old Patel to make cash restitution and liquidate some of his assets. Sentencing is tentatively scheduled for December.

“Patel’s crime involved a sweeping fraud that harmed many federal agencies and the American citizens and government employees who depend upon them,” Vermont’s United States Attorney Christina Nolan said in a statement issued after the court appearance.

During the hearing, Patel, who was released pending sentencing, answered a series of questions from U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford, most by saying “yes, your honor.”

Patel’s attorney, David Haas, declined to comment on the case on Monday.

Patel was a contract manager for Schneider Electric Buildings America Inc., which according to prosecutors “has enormous federal contracts.”

Prosecutors said Patel accepted the illegal kickbacks and bribes in connection with a $70 million project for the United States Coast Guard in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; a $24.7 million project for the United States Department of Agriculture in Albany, California; a $12.6 million project for the United States General Services Administration in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; a $21.8 million project for GSA in San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and a proposed project for work at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.