Bribery scandal involving former NAVWAR employee intensifies

The bribery charge for contracts at the Naval Information Warfare Center has continued to expand with a new indictment accusing a defense contractor of showering a former civilian employee with gifts.

Cask Technologies, LLC and former company executive Mark Larsen are charged with conspiracy and bribery in a grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday in San Diego federal court.

Larsen, who held several leadership positions at Cask, which has offices in San Diego and Virginia, is accused of giving lavish meals and golf outings to James Soriano, the figure the indictment alleges was at the center of the corruption scandal.

Soriano is a former civil engineer and certified contractor representative who worked for the Department of Defense at the Naval Information Warfare Center, or NAVWAR, which was previously known as the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, or SPAWAR.

Soriano, who pleaded guilty in the case in June, included admissions about his relationships with Larsen and Cask in his plea agreement, prosecutors said.

In exchange for the bribes, Soriano allegedly steered non-competitive small business contracts to Cask and its subsidiaries and allowed Cask employees to ghostwrite much of the paperwork involved in government contract work for Soriano, such as official government correspondence and performance evaluations, according to the complaint.

Larsen and Cask Technologies were arraigned in San Diego federal court on Wednesday, and Larsen was allowed to remain out of custody on a $20,000 bond, court records show.

“Mark Larsen and Cask Technologies, LLC have pleaded not guilty to all charges and allegations in the government’s indictment,” Los Angeles-based attorney Aaron Dyer, who represents both defendants, said in an email. “These allegations have no merit, and we look forward to vigorously contesting them in court.”

The indictment is the latest in a series of contract fraud allegations involving Soriano, who admitted to accepting expensive tickets to high-profile sporting events and luxury meals from contractors, as well as securing unemployed jobs for a close friend and a family member.

In September, Cambridge International Systems, a Virginia-based defense company, was convicted in San Diego after pleading guilty to a bribery conspiracy and ordered to pay more than $4.1 million in fines and forfeitures.

“This latest indictment is another constructive step toward accountability in this ongoing multi-year investigation,” said Bryan D. Denny, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Inspector General, Western Field Office . “Mr. Larsen and Cask Technologies are accused of fueling their own greed by knowingly corrupting the government takeover process and some government officials at the expense of our nation’s warfighters and taxpayers.

Soriano will be sentenced in May. Two other people who pleaded guilty for their involvement are awaiting sentencing, while others are fighting the charges.