{"id":71837,"date":"2022-01-10T18:46:42","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T18:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/10\/he-won-346m-in-contracts-meant-for-vets-and-minorities-he-was-neither\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:32:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:32:32","slug":"he-won-346m-in-contracts-meant-for-vets-and-minorities-he-was-neither","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/2022\/01\/10\/he-won-346m-in-contracts-meant-for-vets-and-minorities-he-was-neither\/","title":{"rendered":"He won $346m in contracts meant for vets and minorities. He was neither"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Kansas man, who is neither a veteran nor a minority, is going to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2021\/10\/19\/army-vet-accused-of-faking-paralysis-to-get-1-million-in-va-benefits-using-some-to-buy-bmw\/\" target=\"_blank\">prison<\/a> with no chance of parole after his company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2021\/12\/08\/four-sentenced-in-fraudulent-va-construction-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\">fraudulently<\/a> obtained more than $340 million in government contracts intended for companies owned by service-disabled and minority veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matthew McPherson, 45, of Olathe, Kansas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-wdmo\/pr\/business-owner-sentenced-fraud-scheme\" target=\"_blank\">was sentenced Jan. 7 to 28 months behind bars, with no chance for parole<\/a>. He was also ordered to pay back the government more than $5 million in proceeds he made from the scheme, according to the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis contractor not only defrauded the government but cheated to get contracts that should have gone to firms led by disabled veterans and minority owners,\u201d U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-wdmo\/pr\/business-owner-sentenced-fraud-scheme\" target=\"_blank\">release<\/a>. \u201cHis greed and deception allowed him to enrich himself at the expense of disabled veterans and minority owners. After forfeiting more than $5.5 million to the government and being sent to prison, he has learned the hard way that crime doesn\u2019t pay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two additional conspirators have also pleaded guilty for their participation and await sentencing later this year. Co-defendant Patrick Michael Dingle, 50, of Parkville, Mo., pleaded guilty on Sept. 13, 2020, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and major program fraud. Dingle also pleaded guilty, in a separate case, to one count of filing a false tax return. Additionally, Stephon Zeigler, 61, of Weatherby Lake, Mo, pleaded guilty in 2019 to making a false statement to the Department of Veterans Affairs and awaits sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the Department of Justice, McPherson\u2019s scheme began in 2009 when he and his co-conspirators established the Zieson Construction Company with Zeigler, an African-American service-disabled veteran, as the \u201cnominal owner.\u201d However, according to DOJ, Zeigler never actually ran the company day-to-day, nor did he have control of Zieson\u2019s long-term decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe government established unique programs designed to help small disadvantaged businesses gain a foothold in the awarding of government contracts,\u201d IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher said. \u201cMcPherson lied about being qualified for these contracts and used nominees to further his crime.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2014, McPherson and his co-conspirators used the minority status of another Zieson employee \u2014 a Native American named Rustin Simon, 45, of Smithville, Mo. \u2014 to set up an additional small business through which to expand their ability to earn special government contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McPherson established the Simcon Corporation as a small business in Missouri to obtain federal construction contracts designated for minority business owners. In reality, McPherson and his co-conspirators managed and controlled Simcon throughout, according to DOJ. Not only did Zieson and Simcon use the same employees, same office space, and equipment, but the companies were located in a building owned by an LLC that McPherson controlled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zieson purported to subcontract work to Simcon to establish alleged past performance and profitability, thereby enhancing their ability to earn more government work. However, investigators discovered that this work was never actually performed, while McPherson pocketed nearly $320,000 from Simcon using false and fraudulent invoices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday\u2019s sentencing sends a clear message that contractors unjustly enriching themselves at the expense of our nation\u2019s veterans will not be tolerated,\u201d said Acting Special Agent in Charge Gavin McClaren with the VA Office of Inspector General\u2019s Central Field Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Man gets prison time for defrauding government of more than $340 million in contracts meant for vets and minorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":56809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":12,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3328],"class_list":["post-71837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4ANYL724AVBENIHYOJDTMBTHVQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2022\/01\/10\/he-won-346m-in-contracts-meant-for-vets-and-minorities-he-was-neither\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>He won $346m in contracts meant for vets and minorities. 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