LOS ANGELES - A US Marine Corps captain who last year pleaded guilty to skimming nearly $1.7 million from government contracts in Iraq was sentenced to six years in federal prison on Monday. Captain Eric Schmidt, who is assigned to the First Marine Division at Camp Pendleton in Southern California, pleaded guilty last May to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and filing a false tax return with the US Internal Revenue Service.
His wife, Janet Schmidt, pleaded guilty to a tax offense in connection with the scheme and faces three years in prison when she is sentenced in March.
Schmidt, who is still in the Marine Corps, was sentenced by US District Judge Virginia A. Phillips in a civilian federal court.
Prosecutors say Schmidt, 40, who was deployed to Iraq in 2008, used his position to steer business to an Iraqi contractor, Al-Methwad Company. Once Al-Methwad had been awarded the contracts, prosecutors say, Janet Schmidt used money from Al-Methwad to purchase fewer or inferior goods than those required by the contract and arranged for their delivery to Marines in Iraq.
Prosecutors say the Schmidts caused the US Defence Department to suffer losses of $1.69 million and the Internal Revenue Service to suffer losses of more than $450,000.
During the course of the investigation, government agents seized two California properties,
| Now worth a quarter of what was paid for them... |
two luxury vehicles and about $40,000 in cash from the couple.
"The Schmidts defrauded US taxpayers, cheated the Iraqi people and betrayed the trust placed in them," said Stuart Bowen, attorney for the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. "They will now pay a price for their criminal wrongdoing." |