Michigan company officials who defrauded US through MDOT, are sentenced

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FOX 2 - Five former executives of Michigan-based surveying company were sentenced last week to federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The backstory:

The Michigan men engineered a scheme to defraud the US Department of Transportation through the Michigan Department of Transportation, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan announced.

The case revolves around top officials of Standish-based Surveying Solutions, Inc. lying to the Department of Transportation to receive work contracts. The company was awarded millions of dollars in construction and surveying contracts, which were funded almost entirely by federal funds.

Authorities say they made false statements, including claims that SSI qualified as a disadvantaged business to trick MDOT into granting SSI contract preferences.

On November 18 a federal judge sentenced Andrew Semenchuk, 53, of Rives Junction, and Jeffrey Bartlett, 53, of Standish, to 15 months in federal prison following their guilty pleas to conspiracy to defraud the United States. The two will serve two years of federal supervised release following their release from prison.

On November 20, Adam Ball, 48, of Saginaw and Brian Bartlett, 48, of Standish were sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison following their guilty pleas to conspiracy to defraud the United States.  Both will be required to serve two years of federal supervised release following their release.

That same day, the judge sentenced Anthony Thelen, 48, of Pewamo, to six months in federal prison following his guilty plea to conspiracy to defraud the United States. Thelen will be required to serve one year of federal supervised release following his release from incarceration.

The five will pay more than $4.5 million in full restitution to MDOT and were ordered them to pay forfeitures in the total amount of more than $4 million.

Related:

• Michigan company accused of lying to Department of Transportation to receive work contracts
• Michigan survey company owners busted for defrauding US through MDOT for millions

"FBI Detroit will rigorously safeguard the integrity of government programs and hold accountable those who betray the public’s trust by exploiting the competitive contracting process for personal financial gain," said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office.

According to court records, from approximately February 2011 through July 2019, Andrew Semenchuk, Jeffrey Bartlett, Adam Ball, Brian Bartlett, and Anthony Thelen, owned and operated SSI, a surveying company that was awarded millions of dollars in highway construction contracts by MDOT.

Those contracts were funded almost entirely by federal funds through USDOT.

In the course of seeking and participating in MDOT contracts, the defendants engaged in fraudulent overbilling scheme resulting in MDOT making millions of dollars of overpayments to SSI, a large portion of which the defendants distributed among themselves.

The fraudulent overbilling included reporting false and non-existent employee and information technology costs, claiming improper and inflated equipment and real property lease costs, and concealing the true ownership of and control over the SSI entities to justify the fraudulent overbillings.

"These kinds of manipulative schemes defraud not only government programs but Michiganders’ tax dollars as well and place honest, rule-abiding Michigan businesses at an unfair disadvantage," Runyan said in a statement. "My team at the FBI Bay City Resident Agency, along with our federal law enforcement partners, conducted a meticulous and thorough investigation to uncover this complex financial crime and ultimately ensured justice was served."