A group of five former executives from a Michigan surveying company has been handed down prison sentences after a federal court found them guilty of executing a fraudulent scheme targeting the Department of Transportation. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, the men from Surveying Solutions Inc. (SSI) engaged in a con to overbill the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), ultimately cheating the government and taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
The scam unfolded over the course of nearly a decade, as the perpetrators over-reported expenses and misrepresented their company's ownership to siphon off federal funds intended for state highway projects. U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr., along with FBI Special Agent Jennifer Runyan and Department of Transportation (DOT) Special Agent Anthony Licari, announced the convictions, which included charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, among others. Andrew Semenchuk and Jeffrey Bartlett were each sentenced to 15 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Their counterparts, Adam Ball and Brian Bartlett, received a year and a day in prison, followed by two years of subsequent supervision, while Anthony Thelen was sentenced to six months in prison, with one year of supervised release. Collectively, they have been ordered to cough up over $4.5 million in restitution to MDOT and forfeit another $4 million.
"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, in a statement per the U.S. Attorney's Office press release. “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." The FBI Bay City Resident Agency, in partnership with the federal law enforcement, painstakingly worked to expose this elaborate financial deception.
