http://www.law360.com/articles/427383/nova-datacom-president-to-plead-guilty-in-bid-rigging-case
Nova Datacom, President To Plead Guilty In Bid-Rigging Case
Law360, New York (March 26, 2013, 3:32 PM ET) -- Nova Datacom, one of the tech contractors embroiled in the largest bid-rigging case in U.S. history, and its president will plead guilty during an upcoming hearing to new charges, including misrepresenting the company's ownership to win lucrative contract awards as a disadvantaged small business, the company told a federal court Monday.
Nova Datacom, along with president Min Cho, notified the District of Columbia federal court Monday of their intent to plead guilty. Nova Datacom already has shut its doors, and other executives, including Cho's brother, Young Cho, have pled guilty in the wide-ranging probe. The charges are part of a larger, ongoing investigation involving several companies, more than $30 million in bribes and alleged plans to steer a contract worth more than $1 billion.
Nova Datacom was owned by Young Cho, also known as Alex Cho, from 2004 to 2007, but he transferred full ownership to the company to his sister in 2007, according to criminal charges filed March 14 against Min Cho. Under Min Cho's ownership, the company was able to qualify as a woman-owned small business under U.S. Small Business Administration's 8(a) program for disadvantaged contractors.
The criminal charges against Cho say she lied about her intent to run the day-to-day business of the company and was aware that her brother and another Nova Datacom employee intended to withhold evidence during the DOJ's investigation, even physically breaking a computer hard drive in his effort to destroy evidence relevant to the investigation.
She participated in some of the bribes, paying $800,000 to buy a coffee shop, called Seven Monkeys, in a wealthy area of Seoul, South Korea, for a corrupt U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials, and giving herself a $2 million bonus from Nova Datacom, in order to hold the money as a gift for another corrupt official upon his retirement from the corps, prosecutors say.
Cho had been cooperating with investigators since October 2011, when her brother told her that he'd gone to the feds to admit previous obstruction. The DOJ is seeking forfeiture of $6.88 million from Cho.
Alex Cho, Nick Park, a former Nova Datacom employee who later opened his own business, Unisource Enterprise Inc., and Oh Sung Kwon, also known as Thomas Kwon, the co-founder and chief executive officer of Avenciatech, Inc., have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Min Cho and Nova Datacom are represented by Barbara Ann Van Gelder and Mary Kim of Dickstein Shapiro LLC.
The cases are USA v. Nova Datacom LLC, case number 1:13-cr-00084, and USA v. Cho, case number 1:13-cr-00083, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130325/ACQUISITION03/303250004/New-charges-filed-bid-rigging-case?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CAcquisition
Nova DataCom’s website is no longer active. An attorney for the company did not respond to messages Monday on the charges, but a plea hearing is scheduled for the company and its president next month.
Separately, prosecutors filed bribery and other charges against Min Jung Cho, who is listed in charging papers as the president of Nova DataCom and as the sister of the company’s chief technology officer, Alex Cho. Court papers show Alex Cho began cooperating in the investigation about two years ago.
While the Nova DataCom website isn’t active anymore, Internet archives show the company’s site included a section on corporate citizenship saying the business was “committed to holding ourselves to a higher standard of integrity and accountability.”
The company’s site also included a host of awards and recognitions, including a listing by the Washington Business Journal in 2010 for the top 50 fastest-growing companies.
Federal procurement records list more than $40 million in contact work awarded to the company over the years by, among others, the Army, Navy and departments of Commerce and Interior, with the most recent purchase order paid out last fall.
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