Defense Contractor Sentenced For Bribing Fort Monmouth Employee

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TRENTON, N.J. – The president and CEO of a defense contracting firm in Long Island,
N.Y., was sentenced on Wednesday to 24 months in prison for offering a $100,000 bribe to a Department
of Defense contracting officer at Fort Monmouth in N.J., U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman
announced.
Thanomsak Hongthong, 58, of Shoreham, N.Y., had previously pleaded guilty before
U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to an Information charging him with bribery. Judge
Thompson pronounced sentence today in Trenton federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On Nov. 18, 2009, Hongthong’s company, VDH Precision Machining Corp. – a
manufacturer of electrical and mechanical component parts located in Bohemia, N.Y. – was
awarded a contract worth more than $1.7 million to provide spare parts to the U.S. Army. This
contract was administered by the U.S. Army’s Contracting Center of the Communications and
Electronics Command (CECOM) located in Fort Monmouth. CECOM develops, procures and
sustains communications and information technologies systems.
Shortly after VDH was awarded this contract, Hongthong contacted the Department of
Defense contracting officer at Fort Monmouth who was responsible for the contract. Hongthong
told the contracting officer that one of VDH’s vendors had increased its price on one of the spare
parts VDH was required to provide under the contract, and the contracting officer told
Hongthong there was nothing the government could do about the situation.
Hongthong later called the contracting officer and requested a meeting, which took place
at Fort Monmouth on Feb. 5, 2010. At the end of this meeting, Hongthong made a statement to
the contracting officer that the contracting officer took as an offer of a bribe. The contracting
officer then contacted officials at Fort Monmouth, who began the investigation.
At the direction of law enforcement, the contracting officer met with Hongthong on
March 17, 2010, at a location near Fort Monmouth. During this recorded meeting, Hongthong
offered the contracting officer $100,000 if the contracting officer would increase the price of the
contract by $430,000. Hongthong also offered the contracting officer $10,000 in cash up front.
In a recorded telephone conversation that took place on March 23, 2010, Hongthong
offered the contracting officer $10,000 cash up front, but asked that the contracting officer now
increase the overall price of the contract by $800,000. The contracting officer and Hongthong
agreed to meet on March 27, 2010, at a rest stop off of the Garden State Parkway. Hongthong
agreed to bring the initial $10,000 cash payment to this meeting.
Hongthong admitted to meeting with the contracting officer at the rest stop on the
appointed date. During this meeting, which was recorded by law enforcement, Hongthong gave
the contracting officer $10,000 in cash. Hongthong told the contracting officer that he wanted to
meet again to make additional payments.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Thompson sentenced Hongthong to three years
supervised release, fined him $5,000 and ordered him to forfeit $10,000.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the Defense Criminal Investigative
Service Resident Agency in Edison, N.J., under the direction of Resident Agent in Charge
Christopher Fair; and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command in Philadelphia, Pa.,
under the direction of Resident Agent in Charge Carl Russ, with the investigation leading to
sentencing.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric M. Schweiker of the U.S.
Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.Joshua Markowitz Esq., Trenton, was counsel for the defense.