Scott Miserendino Sr. charged with pocketing $2.8 million in bribery payola in Military Sealift Command contract schemes

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  • In total, between approximately 1999 and approximately 2014, Allen received more than $6 million from the telecommunications company, and in turn, he paid more than $2.8 million to Miserendino in bribes.
Strategic Sealift Ship Offloading Cargo. Photo courtesy of Military Sealift Command.

Scott Miserendino Sr. charged with pocketing $2.8 million in bribery payola in Military Sealift Command contract schemes

NORFOLK, Va. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment May 4, 2017, charging a former contractor at the Military Sealift Command for his role in a bribery and fraud conspiracy through which he received nearly $3 million in bribes.

According to the indictment, Scott Miserendino Sr., 58, of Stafford, was charged in a five-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services mail fraud, one count of bribery, and three counts of honest services mail fraud.

…conspired to use Miserendino’s position at MSC to enrich themselves through bribery.

According to the indictment, Miserendino was a government contractor at MSC, an entity of the U.S. Department of the Navy that provided support and specialized services to the Navy and other U.S. military forces. The indictment alleges that Miserendino and Joseph P. Allen, the owner of a government contracting company, conspired to use Miserendino’s position at MSC to enrich themselves through bribery. Specifically, beginning in 1999, Miserendino allegedly used his position and influence at MSC to assist Allen and his company in obtaining and expanding a commission agreement with a telecommunications company, which sold maritime satellite services to MSC, according to the indictment.

For more than a decade, Miserendino allegedly used his influence at MSC to take official acts to benefit the telecommunications company, which through the commission agreement, also benefited Allen and his company.

For more than a decade, Miserendino allegedly used his influence at MSC to take official acts to benefit the telecommunications company, which through the commission agreement, also benefited Allen and his company.

Among his actions, the indictment alleges that Miserendino: advised officials at MSC and on their ships about using the telecommunications company’s services; authorized Allen and his employees to perform services on MSC ships and ensure that the equipment on those ships defaulted to the telecommunications company’s services rather than that of an alternative provider; and facilitated payment to the telecommunications company for the services it rendered to MSC.

Unknown to MSC or the telecommunications company throughout the scheme, Allen paid half of the commission payments from the telecommunications company to Miserendino as bribes.

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Unknown to MSC or the telecommunications company throughout the scheme, Allen paid half of the commission payments from the telecommunications company to Miserendino as bribes. In total, between approximately 1999 and approximately 2014, Allen received more than $6 million from the telecommunications company, and in turn, he paid more than $2.8 million to Miserendino in bribes.

For his role, the scheme, Allen, 56, from Panama City, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery on April 19 and is scheduled for sentencing on July 28.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Kenneth Blanco, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Martin Culbreth, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for Defense Criminal Investigative Service Mid-Atlantic Field Office; and Maureen Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Norfolk Field Office, made the announcement after the indictment was returned. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Haynie, and Trial Attorneys Sean F. Mulryne and Molly Gaston of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting the case.

The FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigated the case.

  • In total, between approximately 1999 and approximately 2014, Allen received more than $6 million from the telecommunications company, and in turn, he paid more than $2.8 million to Miserendino in bribes.

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