WASHINGTON — A former manager with the Army Corps of Engineers was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison on Thursday for orchestrating a $30 million bribery and kickback scheme that the authorities called historic in scope.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of federal district court called the conduct of the former manager, Kerry F. Khan, "shocking, vicious and cruel," and the judge imposed a sentence four years longer than what prosecutors had recommended. He was also ordered to pay $32.5 million in restitution to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Mr. Khan, 55, of Alexandria, Va., pleaded guilty last year to orchestrating the fraud, which prosecutors called the largest domestic bribery and bid-rigging scheme in the history of federal contracting cases. He acknowledged pocketing bribes from corrupt contractors in exchange for certifying bogus or inflated invoices for services that were never provided. The money was used to pay for mistresses in several states and overseas, as well as for luxuries including Rolex watches, first-class plane tickets, expensive clothes and liquor and a spacious home that a prosecutor described as the "Khan Majal," the authorities said.
"You made history for the wrong reasons — you know that, don't you?" Judge Sullivan told Mr. Khan before handing down the sentence.
Mr. Khan apologized, saying the crimes occurred during a "very, very dark period of my life."
"I deeply regret this, your honor," he said. "I would like for you to know — I can honestly say this to you — I am a transformed person now."
Though prosecutors requested a 15-year sentence, Mr. Khan's lawyer asked for 10 years, saying the punishment should be more in line with what other defendants in the case had received. Both sides acknowledged that Mr. Khan had cooperated in the wide-ranging investigation, providing information about his brother and one of his sons. The inquiry has yielded guilty pleas from 15 people and one company.
Besides the fraud, prosecutors say they intercepted wiretapped phone calls and text messages in which he told an associate he was pleased that a mistress in the Philippines had been assaulted. In other messages, prosecutors said, he revealed his plans to travel there to have sex with a girl described to him as 15 years old. That trip, planned for the summer of 2011, was disrupted by federal agents.
Judge Sullivan called the text messages and phone calls "shocking," and at one point offered Mr. Khan's relatives a chance to leave the courtroom so they did not have to hear them described in greater detail.
Prosecutors said the bribery scheme spanned several years but unraveled in October 2011 with the assistance of a contractor who cooperated with the F.B.I. and the arrests of Mr. Khan and three other men, including his son. The arrests came just as the men were conspiring to steer a planned $1 billion deal to a favored contractor in exchange for even more money.
As part of the scheme, prosecutors said, subcontractors would provide services and equipment included in the contract but also submit fake or inflated invoices for work that was never actually done. The fraudulently inflated amounts, which Mr. Khan referred to as "overhead," would be paid out, and the subcontractors would kick back a portion of the payments to Mr. Khan and other associates involved in the scheme, prosecutors said. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Khan had been paid more than $12 million for his role in the fraud and was owed millions more.
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