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New York Painting Contractor Sentenced for Conspiring To Bribe Former USMMA Official
On June 30, 2017, George Monioudis, owner of S&M Painting (S&M), was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Central Islip, New York, to 6 months’ home confinement, 3 years’ supervised release, 250 hours of community service, and a $100 special court assessment.
On October 2, 2015, Monioudis pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection to paying bribes and kickbacks to John McCormick, a former U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) planner/estimator and contracting officer’s technical representative in the Academy’s Department of Public Works. McCormick helped Monioudis obtain contracts by revealing the Independent Government Cost Estimates for proposed jobs. McCormick also collected bogus “covering” bids, many from fictitious companies, to ensure there were sufficient numbers of competing bids for S&M to obtain the contracts. In return, Monioudis made cash payments to McCormick in amounts equal to a percentage of the contract amount or the profit to be obtained. Between 1998 and 2014, USMMA awarded S&M approximately 173 painting contracts totaling over $1 million.
McCormick pleaded guilty to related charges on January 20, 2017, and is currently awaiting sentencing.
DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division.