Investigations

On October 20, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin convicted and sentenced Telemachos Agoudemos to time served and a $100 special assessment following his April 17, 2018, guilty plea to making or using a false statement. The investigation revealed a scheme in which Agoudemos and his co-conspirators operated construction companies with straw owners who qualified as disadvantaged individuals or service-disabled veterans but did not actually control the companies. The participants fraudulently obtained Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) certification to collect more than $200 million in Government-funded contracts to which they were not entitled.

 

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the FBI, Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the OIGs at the Small Business Administration General Services Administration, and the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense.