A former Southland-based Navy veteran is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in Los Angeles to defrauding the military out of more than $9 million through a bid-rigging and contract steering scheme involving kickbacks and other benefits to a fellow enlistee.
Cory Taylor Wright, 49, of Columbus, Georgia, has agreed to enter a plea to a single federal count of wire fraud and cooperate with prosecutors, the Justice Department announced.
Wright worked for the Navy’s Mobile Utilities Support Equipment division — Muse — at the naval base in Port Hueneme in Ventura County. The division provided support for large generators and other systems for U.S. Department of Defense operations around the world. To accomplish its mission, Muse contracted to procure goods and services, typically by using subcontractors, court papers show.
When Wright neared retirement, he and an unnamed fellow Navy enlistee held supervisory positions that allowed the defendant to exercise considerable influence over naval contracts. They agreed to create a Georgia-based company, C&C Power Solutions.
Court papers show that to provide initial funding for CCP, Wright’s fellow enlistee allegedly caused a prime contractor and subcontractors to issue payments to the company for products and services that were not provided. Once CCP was operational, Wright and his co-conspirator engaged in a bid-rigging scheme to ensure CCP received subcontracts from a prime contractor, prosecutors said.
According to the scheme, Wright’s alleged accomplice ensured CCP received valuable Navy contracts in exchange for thousands of dollars in kickback payments and other benefits, prosecutors said.
Wright also generated phony invoices that said CCP had completed work and delivered products to Muse when, in fact, the company had not completed its contractual obligations. This caused the prime contractor to submit invoices containing Wright’s false information, which led the Navy to issue payments on the invoices, the Justice Department said.