Federal prosecutors have charged defense contractor Cask Technologies, LLC, and its former executive, Mark Larsen, with bribery of a government official to secure fat defense contracts, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office. Allegedly, Larsen and the company lavished a former Naval Information Warfare Center employee with expensive meals, golf outings, and jobs for relatives in exchange for help winning contracts meant to be up for competitive bids.

Playing the system, Larsen and Cask supposedly had their hands in the cookie jar when it came to drafting procurement documents and official government correspondence, effectively ensuring their success in landing a $50 million contract which they composed the requirements for and, according to the claims outlined, were never meant to lose, but to catch them, court records show a string of email exchanges where they planned the scheme. Alongside this, they appeared to bob and weave through regulations by not disclosing conflicts of interest regarding their connections with other associated companies, which included two Native Hawaiian 8(a) Small Business Administration players subcontracting millions of dollars to Cask.

"Defense contracts support our military, and as such play an important role in keeping us all safe," U.S. Attorney Tara K. McGrath stated through the U.S. Attorney's Office, highlighting the betrayal a bribery case of this magnitude represents for the systems in place. Bryan D. Denny, Special Agent for the Department of Defense Inspector General, called out the motivation of "greed" behind the alleged acts.