Former NASA Contractor Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy and Wire Fraud

n October 11, 2001, William Powell of Forestville, Maryland pled
guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud NASA. Powell is
scheduled to be sentenced on March 14, 2002. He faces a maximum penalty
of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Powell was employed as a buyer for Boeing Information Services
(Boeing), which formerly did business in Vienna, Virginia. From
February 1996 to December 1998, Powell and a group of
vendors/subcontractors submitted over $1.4 million of fraudulent and
inflated bids for computer equipment through Boeing to NASA. Powell’s
co-conspirators then obtained lower-priced computer equipment, which
they subsequently provided to NASA through Boeing. Powell received a
share of the profits as a kickback.

Boeing Information Services is not suspected of any wrongdoing.

Special Agents of the NASA Office of Inspector General, Office of
Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation along with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service. Assistant United States Attorney Steven J. Durham, District
of Columbia, handled the prosecution.

Previous release: 2000-026, 02/17/00 – Indictment