Former VA Contractor Official Took Over $2.5 Million In Kickbacks
The former project manager of a VA contractor with for over $200 million in performed contracts with the government including Veterans Affairs pled guilty to taking $2.5 million in kickbacks.
Bhaskar Patel entered his guilty plea Friday. The Florida resident is facing 10 years in prison for violating laws prohibiting kickbacks. The 67-year-old Patel will need to make cash restitution as a part of his plea agreement.
“Patel’s crime involved a sweeping fraud that harmed many federal agencies and the American citizens and government employees who depend upon them,” Vermont’s United States Attorney Christina Nolan said in a statement issued after the court appearance.
Investigators learned of the fraudulent activity while investigating bidding patters at the VA medical center located in White River Junction, Vermont. Patel allegedly falsified a bid as a part of his duties for his employer Schneider Electric Buildings America Inc that was detected by investigators.
According to the Associated Press:
Prosecutors said Patel accepted the illegal kickbacks and bribes in connection with a $70 million project for the United States Coast Guard in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; a $24.7 million project for the United States Department of Agriculture in Albany, California; a $12.6 million project for the United States General Services Administration in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; a $21.8 million project for GSA in San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and a proposed project for work at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.
“Patel directed the subcontractors to pay him by check, often diverting funds through his adult son and daughter, and insisting on a bogus reference notation,” said a press release. Basically, Patel in his capacity as an official for the VA contractor apparently accepted the kickbacks without his employer or VA noticing for many years.
I guess he will not be getting that fancy retirement, after all.
All this crap of VA employees screwing over the past decades and nothing ever done about it has been talked about Ad nauseam !!!!
LMAOOOOOOO,
Junior 2/5 commented
“we already know this, where y’all been…, head up your azz?”
Followed directly by someone named: “Doesn’t smell right”
Thanks all for the good laugh.
Thanks for your comments LMAOOOO…, but the fact is I get really pissed at how all this negative stuff is happening to veterans and nobody GAF! Hope I can live long enough to see the swamp drained, bill and hellary in orange, along with dems and rinos in congress. MAGA
Oh no junior2/5, I was not laughing at you, and I have nothing but respect for you. I was only laughing at the persons name following your comment being named “Doesn’t smell right”
I know your pissed, and have every right to be. Sorry for any confusion with my previous post.
Paying restitution? Took kickbacks for years? Sounds like there’s a bunch of money they didn’t have proof on and his family still will have. People usually spend money making it hard to collect, if did some digging someone was living outside their means. Funny they said the VA found a pattern enabling to catch him. What they really mean is a sub contractor wasn’t brought in for a project and got pissed off and called and turned him in. A project manager is never in control of multi million dollar projects, never. There’s a group and sub contracting companies for projects that large are usually large and know key people in corporate. Patel took money, but probably the fall guy. Probably ties to upper management that are family? And a chunk of cash his family will keep while he’s doing his 18 months
we already know this, where y’all been…, head up your azz?
Just be sure you don’t fudge the mileage on your travel pay reimbursement or you will be sentenced to do 20 years or longer!
To all of you veteran’s. If you have not read this story, you may want to.
From the Pro Public: The Shadow Rulers of The VA.
Ben and to all of you. Thank you for caring about the nation’s veteran’s.
How many like Patel exist within the VA or any government agency, too many get away even Senators like the ones in California continue to get contracts for their husbands business and get away with it
Here’s the latest news on the Washington DC vamc!
——————————————-
From: “military.com”
Titled:
“New VA Secretary Pledges Cleanup Of Scandal-Plagued DC Hospital”
Dated: 7 Aug 2018
By: Mr. Richard Sisk
“In his second week on the job, new VA Secretary Robert Wilkie pledged a cleanup of the scandal-plagued Washington, D.C., Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center where inspectors found doctors using rusty surgical tools and identified a sense of “complacency” in the facility’s leadership.”
“Wilkie went to VAMC Monday, where he was told that plans were in place for “assuring reliable availability and sterilization of instruments for surgical procedures,” the VA said in a release.”
“Wilkie also was told that an electronic inventory was being set up to make sure that the hospital, serving about 90,000 veterans in the D.C. area, overcomes chronic equipment shortages.”
“Previous reports from the VA’s Office of Inspector General charged that VAMC staffers at times had to make emergency runs to neighboring hospitals to ask for supplies.”
“The hospital had to borrow bone material for knee replacement surgeries and also ran out of tubes needed for kidney dialysis, forcing staff to go to a private-sector hospital to procure them, the IG’s report last year said.”
“VAMC officials also told Wilkie that they were doing better at making timely appointments, particularly for prosthetics.”
“We had a good visit today, and I appreciated hearing from facility and regional leadership on the important work that has been done to address the Inspector General’s concerns, as well as plans for resolving all its remaining recommendations,” Wilkie said in a statement. “There have been substantial improvements over the past few months in practice management, logistics and prosthetics in particular, and leaders have a strong plan ahead for even more progress in the coming weeks.”
“Wilkie approved yet another shuffle of VAMC’s leadership to implement the changes. The current acting director, Adam M. Robinson Jr., will return to his previous position as director of the VA Maryland Health Care System.”
“A new permanent director for VAMC has been identified, and the name will be announced “in the near future,” the VA said.”
“In the interim, VAMC Chief of Staff Charles Faselis will serve as acting director of the facility.”
“Damning reports from VA Inspector General Michael Missal on conditions at VAMC were a factor in the downfall of Wilkie’s predecessor as VA Secretary, Dr. David Shulkin, who was fired in a Tweet by President Donald Trump in March.”
“In April 2017, Missal took the unusual step of issuing an emergency report on conditions at VAMC before his inspection was complete to avoid putting patients at risk.”
“In his scathing report, IG Missal said that storage areas for medical supplies at the VAMC were filthy, management was clueless on what was in the storage areas, medical supply rejects may have been used on patients and more than $150 million in supplies and equipment had never been inventoried.”
“Shulkin relieved VAMC Director Brian Hawkins and replaced him with Lawrence Connell, one of his top policy advisors and a retired Army colonel.”
“In early March, just before Shulkin was fired, Missal issued another report warning that for years VAMC had “suffered a series of systemic and programmatic failures to consistently deliver timely and quality patient care.”
“The report charged that there were staff shortages in several departments and that about $92 million in supplies and equipment were purchased over a two-year period without “proper controls to ensure the purchases were necessary and cost-effective.”
“In April, Connell was out as temporary director following a dispute over “technical aspects” of his appointment, the VA said.”
“In his latest report on VAMC, Missal made 25 recommendations for improving care. The VA said Monday that VAMC had implemented six of the 25 recommendations and was working to resolve the remaining 19.”
*******************
(The Titanic deck chairs are again being moved around!)
__________________
Here’s the comment section!
Jon Dewitt12 hours ago Went to a new clinic today….in Cadillac Mi this morning all I can say is …I will never go back there…very rude.
FedUp91117 hours ago And the Democrats want “VA Care for All.” We should all be proud… This is what you get when you let government run amok. The VA should be disbanded. Veterans should get their care through DoD or the private sector.
@ namnibor
Oh Wow! GREAT FIND!
Thank you MSN for publishing this information.
Also, the WaPo link in the last paragraph is quite informative with great comments as well.
No tell Patel. I wouldn’t be surprised if some monies went into relatives backing motels and communication devices at the Capital, District of Criminals and Virginia.
Agriculture in Albany CA. looks to me that small town got federal funds for growing pot. Maybe Mr. Sessions should be involved MAGA slowly Mr. Magoo.
“[…“Patel directed the subcontractors to pay him by check (or gold chains with minimum weight of 7 Lbs accepted as payment) , often diverting funds through his adult son and daughter, and insisting on a bogus reference notation,” said a press release. (para-paraphrased)
To: AFGE President David “little” Cox– Your purple team brigade of hungry hungry hippos scheme of screwing over Vets, maiming, and killing us are coming to an end assholes.
Other News about VA today: “The Shadow Rulers of the VA”
“https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-shadow-rulers-of-the-va/ar-BBLDicl?ocid=ientp”
Hell-u-vah good find Nam. Surprised the ‘machine’ let this much be known. Yet not widely reported on or spread much. Or in areas like mine would be a total taboo.
Something is up since they allowed Patel to play fall guy in their DC and media web of deceit and corruption. One down, one hundred more to replace him.
Isaac Arnsdorf and wifey are, can also be, labeled as ‘deep state,’ very very well connected, insiders, Ivy League’rs’, more lefty than righty or moderate, and has bounced all over media circles, and allowed to write what he will and ignore other insights…. or deeper connections that some dots leading many ways out of the country. Leading also into corrupt little fly over hick college towns like mine. Remember remember, the many picks from Indiana, the corruption and attacks allowed on certain people (me for one) locally. Why Terror Haute is so controlled, corrupt, censored (for many years), VA, civilian hospitals, media, et al, can get by with all they do? And is all supported by the machine of both political parties and refused by all to do proper investigations? The VA and civilian hospitals playing the same games and civvy hospitals are free to do as the please, withhold med files, run off patients, harass at will and combined with vast local government corruption and many years of censoring the public is all supported in and by DC and everything you can point a stick at???
Oh and links I had about stuff from their ranks have been scrubbed.
Now the great catch/report/lure/distraction, a lick off the top of the corruption land ice-berg, and finger pointing for what? They still aren’t going for the juggle vein or much farther than skin deep. Why? Snicker snicker.
All the cool kids, New Yorker cliques, pedophiles, perverts, insiders, Hillary, Gore, Bushy, etc. Run to mighty Florida. Seems like all the East coast, the mafias, the network are all joined at the hip. Then spread to every town in ‘merica.’ Hell why not connect all the dots and connections ….over the years??
“https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/04/fashion/weddings/elizabeth-deutsch-isaac-arnsdorf.html”
What kind of game is the author playing?
“https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/11/04/obama-land-not-every-vote-is-obamas/”
What a BS article to post partially of then want $.
The back and forth game of symbiotic corrupt politicians and parties. Same ol shit.
“https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/30/1627592/-Surprise-Trump-s-lobbying-ban-weakens-rules-Obama-had-in-place”
“Obama’s Race-Based Spoils System”
Patrick J. Buchanan
“Obama, wrote Isaac Arnsdorf, is targeting “a problem that has been on the administration’s radar. Whites still hold more than 81 percent of senior pay-level positions.”
“https://buchanan.org/blog/obamas-race-based-spoils-system-4844”
“https://www.citizensforethics.org/president-trump-fills-swamp-lobbyists/”
Bait n’ switch, dual citizenships, shadow governance and facade oh my. They didn’t play much ‘exposure’ on Obama for sure nor Hellary. And no the complete visitation list for the Obummer white house was released,
“https://www.citizensforethics.org/?s=Obama” Oh no they need to kill whitey like South Africa is doing and those here are calling for but not much news about it or the rising crime rates and attacks. Vets can suffer and die we are on the terrorist list while they shout for more ‘diversity,’ censoring, corporal punishments and Dictatorships through the land…. from both parties and all activist to the college kids or Antifa.
VA shadow government and cliques.
U.S. Gov shadow government and continuing ‘deep state.’
Shadow banning, censoring, then the big push to silence us all, ha ha, Jones and many others too. Not so funny when it all hits home is it? Neither party seems too upset with all the censoring and attacks going on as the First and primary big C amendment bites the dust…. more to come.
VA to state sponsored shadow attacks or by deception they all will do war and destroy us all and our country, to hell with health care… we are meant to suffer and die. The “top” can get their pain meds and quality care.
Shadow governments and media controllers? Didn’t see much about the Bush family and their battery of lawyers and cliques from Florida making the big push and creating boards to help end corporate and company insurance plans for unions and workers. Back when Bush told old time union marchers to stay a quarter mile away from him and some getting shot by rubber bullets and dispersed to his trade crap that hurt American workers but enhanced trade for huge corporations and those in the clique.
A lot can be said reading between the lines. Research what is left if anything. Dot connecting. Recognizing what states like mine can do to some vets, patriots, and Constitutionalism. Why some states and towns are said to be “hands off,” “part of the club,” let em’ run rampant and destroy whomever especially the whistle blowers and targets of the “established machines.” The final blows are coming since the nation is facing complete corporate and social media communist thugs censoring, banning, living in no-news or info land. Losing our rights and freedoms every day while flooded with foreigners and militants the news refuses to report on.
OT stuff.
ACLU supposedly won lawsuits claiming victories and that some court ruled that “online speech or writ is protected.” What happened to that? Llinks gone to that report too and nothing more to be found at the mighty ACLU scrubbed site.
Truck sign protest: Went over to check on another long time friend and discovered he was lost in his own mind, lost weight, confused, in a very short time. Has health issues and refused to see MDs previously because of the games, bureaucracy, red tape, repetitive forms, long wait times for civvy care too, and questions and such.
Had to call 911. Neighbors came out, cops, fire and ambulance shows up. Signs got some attention plus what I told them all about Union Hospital here and I couldn’t go with him or have my name mentioned “due to politics, VA and health care network of retribution and attacks.” Cause they’d probably ignore him, treat him badly or let him die, lay in his own filth like others I’ve seen, or just for knowing me or having my name mentioned. Nice huh? That is in a town ruled by those foreigners, all Democrat/communist/Marxist/Trilats/Demons and shadow governance. 911 and Senior’s aid folks on the phone….’ awww they wouldn’t do such things or treat people badly.’ I said bull they would too, I am evidence of that. Want my proof? “Oh that’s not needed now.” They took him to the other hospital.
Same goofy looks from rescue. “You serious?” Yep I am want proof or involved? Errrr… no thanks. By-standers said… ‘that stuff is illegal!? Oh no it’s not and got the proof, want proof? Oh no wouldn’t want involved in local politics or have the city council upset with us right now. To others stating..”that figures for Indiana.” “We have always been corrupt and mafia ruled.” So it’s no secret about Indiana or this town.
His next door neighbor came out and we chatted for a while. He’s just found out about multiple health issue plaguing him too. The commonly found brain tumors, non-smoker with lung cancer and lesions, stage four cancer, on chemo, bad knees and spine, etc. Couldn’t get pain meds till stage four and suffering greatly. Has to get out of his sick bed and visit his MD WEEKLY for his limited pain med supply. Weekly. Means mo money for office visits, mo money for testing, mo money for the doc, etc., little concern for patient care or lessening of the burdens on we the patients. One thing he said was, ‘good thing I don’t have to sit in a waiting room for up to those six hours for pain meds from the other doctors I am hearing about.’ I said I was one of those so-called patients until I had fill the second visit. And on it went till I had to go. Another pleasant and revealing story from the Hoosier land of police state rule, medical shadow governing, profiteering, hard censoring and total lacks of ethics or real concern from medical professionals or from our fearless leaders in gubbermint….et al. Hmmm. Weekly trips, stage four, can hardly move around and walk. Required until he is in hospice, dies at home, or can pay for a visiting nurse Association, to come in to administer pain and comfort meds. Welcome to the Gaza Strip of America or back to the USSR boys.
“https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/08/06/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting/”
Oh those names and connections. The filth in the VA or out allowed to stay or others appointed to over-see the sheep.
I reserve the right to hate whom I wish, abhor what I wish, disagree with whomever, to no sing Kumbaya, not to be assimilated, to criticize whom I wish regardless of party, labels, or nation affiliations. Even who I may have voted for to keep the other side OUT. No-one is perfect or should beyond exposure or transparency for all to see.
Now Obummer is claiming by some reports, locals loving it, to being the first foreign born POTUS???? Huh?
Same stuff diff day. The more those “at the top” claim is changing the more things stay the same or get worse. Barf on DC.
Bad bad Trumster and traitor Pence! Out of the pool for ten minutes you scum suckers and liars. Pity you all up there can’t get your bottoms whacked.
Now, That’s what I’m talking about.
Yeah for investigation and recovery…. hopefully Feds ontinue investigating, cuz there’s plenty more “public funds” to be recovered, restituted.
Thanks Ben. and Good Morning.
“Patel in his capacity as an official for the VA contractor apparently accepted the kickbacks without his employer or VA noticing for many years.” …. ” although many had commented to him on a personal level that neck inuries from wearing gold chains in excess of 7 pounds was a real hazard on individuals of his physical stature. He had also been warned by VA Police that the gold jewelry should not be worn around veterans without VA Police present citing; ‘for obvious reasons’.”