Former CSA employee Barry S. Szafran pleads guilty to accepting kickbacks
The press release does not list the name of the “prime contractor” but I was able to find this information on JobNet:
Combat Support Associates, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait / Alarm Services Manager
Name Barry Szafran
Employer Combat Support Associates, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait
Position Alarm Services Manager
Dates February, 2008 – Current
Job Category Full Time
Responsibilities an 11 MAN team responsible for the repair, installation, and maintenance of over 300 Fire Alarm Control Systems. Managed and coordinated all plans of new construction and building conversions / refits in accordance with NFPA 25, 72 and 101 (Click HERE for link)
CSA employees past and present, feel free to provide any info you have and would like to share regarding this. ~Forseti
Jewett City Man Pleads Guilty to Accepting Kickbacks From Military Supplier in Kuwait
David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Barry S. Szafran, 49, of Jewett City, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before United States District Judge Mark R. Kravitz in New Haven to one count of illegally receiving a gratuity. The charge relates to Szafran’s accepting kickbacks from a foreign supplier of fire safety systems to a military base in Kuwait in Iraq.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Szafran was the civilian fire alarm manager at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, for a prime contractor for the U.S. Army on a government-owned, contractor-operated base. In this position, Szafran had a leading role in maintaining an adequate supply of repair/replacement parts for fire safety systems for the facility. In pleading guilty, Szafran admitted that, from April 2008 to April 2009, he repeatedly provided favorable treatment to a local parts vendor, which was a subcontractor for a larger supplier, in connection with certain contracts. During this time period, Szafran received things of value from the local parts vendor, including a round-trip airplane ticket between Kuwait and Rhode Island, meals and scented candles.
On April 20, 2008, Szafran sent an email to the vendor’s project manager instructing the manager to create and submit three quotations for batteries, including two falsified quotations on different companies’ letterheads, and instructed the project manager to make the vendor’s price quote to be the lowest. Also, on July 9, 2008, Szafran recommended that the contractor accept the vendor’s bid for a separate quote for a fire alarm panel and reject the bids of two other companies.
The vendor then purchased a round-trip airplane flight for Szafran. Because his flight was paid for by the vendor, SZAFRAN was able to obtain from his employer $2,169 in cash in lieu of travel expenses for which the contractor, in turn, received reimbursement from the U.S. Army.
Additional e-mails examined during the course of the investigation revealed that Szafran also provided details of competitors’ bid and pricing information.
During his employment with the contractor, Szafran also received several meals paid for by the vendor, as well as scented candles from an employee of the supplier. And, during the spring of 2009, Szafran stole a box of smoke detectors from the contractor, valued at approximately $5000, and provided them to the vendor.
Judge Kravitz has scheduled sentencing for October 3, 2011, at which time Szafran faces a maximum term of imprisonment of two years and a fine of up to $250,000.
This case is being investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the United States Army, Criminal Investigative Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser. (CLick HERE for original article)
Monday, July 18th 2011 at 2:11 pm |
Camp Arifjan, racking up another one with many more to follow from 2008, 2009, 2010 ……..
Now who is the Foreign Contractor who gave the kickbacks. Suspend them for 10 years SDO -what are you waiting for ?
Monday, July 18th 2011 at 4:56 pm |
I couldn’t agree more. I have to wonder why the DoJ didn’t name any of the contractors involved and why this case wasn’t announced on the DoJ’s main website like all of the former military cases are?
Our readers have been commenting about CSA and other corrupt contractors for years. Maybe the DoJ needs to read Ms. Sparky!
Monday, July 18th 2011 at 6:16 pm |
What a person does for scented candles.
Monday, July 18th 2011 at 8:15 pm |
Did the scented candles smell like hash? WTF? Scented candles? haha
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 8:16 am |
Well folks, this will be the first indictment of many. CSA was full of corruption and we are sure it will come out in the end. If Bill Sterling and Company think they will be sitting at home a year from now watching their kickback money earn interest they are mistaken. I would start visiting the local Federal Prisons to see which one has the best ammenities.
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 9:53 am |
We can only hope.
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 10:22 am |
A little humor for Jim and the rest of the readers regarding the scented candles…they’re told to collect the spent candle material and taken to the nearest cellphone shops (and there are plenty everywhere..did you ever wonder why???) once weighed, they receive a free cell phone and 10,000 USD (ballpark figure) courtesy of local ministry officials and ministry employees who had received them for free as well and then sold to the phone shops to receive cash (apparently it is not allowed for them to receive direct cash but gifts are ok..go figure!) besides the new phone, they also receive cash awards courtesy of the same officials who pretty much owns the local businesses and subcontractors in Kuwait…(apparently Gov. and Ministry officials are not allowed to have private business while holding an official position..oh that’s accurate!) but the cell phone shops are part of the money laundering process in Kuwait so once again go figure……(hint, hint…vendors…subcontractors…are you listening?) so…scented candles equals free cell phone and some cash…now where can I get some of those scented candles? I heard there are plenty for American Contractors in Fahaheel area…hmmmm
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 11:26 am |
Thanks for the information and welcome back Romulus!
Thursday, July 21st 2011 at 4:21 am |
That’s utter BS… most, if not all, of those little cell phone shops don’t have 300KD on hand, much less the 3,000 KD it would take to make ten grand.
utter crap…
Thursday, July 21st 2011 at 3:15 pm |
Hey long time in Kuwait ….selective reading are we? Did u miss the part where it said…A little humor for the readers? You ever heard of read between the lines? How about sarcasm? It seems that you’ve lost all that common sense being in Kuwait too long! Do you even know how much money those cell phone shops really make a month? You need to go beyond Fahaheel my friend, unless you’re hanging around there to weight your own scented candles?
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 2:10 pm |
It has been a while but I’ll try to chime in more in the blogs. Which reminds me..haven’t seen anyone talking about the recent “commotion” with the CNN ireport regarding comments supposedly made by two ITT fire officers….was a bit disturbing….if you haven’t read it it’s a string of email conversation between the two…..accordingly and after the so-called investigation “someone”had hacked into their account and added some “inappropriate” remarks…you make the call on this one as I’m sure everyone will have their opinion…this should be an interesting blog for a while.
Another info…….Ombudsman shows up ito investigate a current company / contractor with the U.S. Army …something to do with a “connected” employee and once again to local companies in Kuwait…what’s new..at this point is there any contractor in Kuwait that has not been visited or investigated by the ombudsman or some other authority? Can’t help but think at least something remains consistent in this business! Yup…go ahead blog away folks…..
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 2:11 pm |
It has been a while but I’ll try to chime in more in the blogs. Which reminds me..haven’t seen anyone talking about the recent “commotion” with the CNN ireport regarding comments supposedly made by two ITT fire officers….was a bit disturbing….if you haven’t read it it’s a string of email conversation between the two…..accordingly and after the so-called investigation “someone”had hacked into their account and added some “inappropriate” remarks…you make the call on this one as I’m sure everyone will have their opinion…this should be an interesting blog for a while.
Another info…….Ombudsman shows up to investigate a current company / contractor with the U.S. Army …something to do with a “connected” employee and once again to local companies in Kuwait…what’s new..at this point is there any contractor in Kuwait that has not been visited or investigated by the ombudsman or some other authority? Can’t help but think at least something remains consistent in this business! Yup, go ahead blog away folks…..this should be interesting as well.
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 2:19 pm |
Thanks for the checking in and providing that information. When did this happen?
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 3:13 pm |
About two to three weeks ago…it might still be ongoing.
On another note…a particular individual who had selection/approval authority to award contracts to local and U.S. companies while employed by CSA is apparently now working for the same company they had awarded contracts to in the past…now, normally this would not be such a big deal but in this case there’s more to it than can be seen by the naked eye!…case in point…the individual and the vendor was seen visiting a current Prime Contractor’s office…Once again this would not be such a big deal but it just seems weird to visit personnel of a different company who now has award authority that used to work for the same individual…..hmmmm…..I mean I understand influence but that surely creates a negative perception especially when the vendor picks up new contracts that they didn’t have before…..but then again, I’m sure that has nothing to do with “the” individual…..right? Perception, the thin line between ethical and unethical.
Wednesday, July 20th 2011 at 4:43 pm |
Any insight on why this Kuwait case was not put out front and center by the DoJ and CSA was not mentioned?
Thursday, July 21st 2011 at 4:24 am |
Name names…. who is this ‘particular individual’ and which contractor are you talking about? And, who ‘used to work for the same individual’?
Thursday, August 18th 2011 at 4:40 pm |
Has everyone heard about the class action law suit against CSA by all the former employees. Make sure you get your paperwork in for that. It could add up to billions.
Wednesday, November 16th 2011 at 6:52 am |
Hello,
Can you forward that information out so other employees during that time like myself would know what to do?
Friday, February 10th 2012 at 9:09 pm |
I am a former CSA employee and have heard nothing of this class action suit. Could you please update me and give me contact info for whatever attorney’s are involved?