Operation Ill Wind
Operation Ill Wind was a three-year investigation launched in 1986 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation into corruption by U.S. government and military officials, and private defense contractors. Charles "Chuck" Duff was the sole Air Force Action Officer responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing Air Force actions relating to the Department of Justice's "Ill Wind" procurement fraud investigation. Government officials, private individuals and companies were eventually convicted of various crimes including nine government officials, 69 Washington consultants and 7 military contractors,[1] as well as executives at GE, Boeing and United Technologies.[2][3]
Melvyn Paisley, appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1981 by Republican President Ronald Reagan,[4] was found to have accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. He pleaded guilty to bribery and served four years in prison.[5]
James E. Gaines, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, took over when Paisley resigned his office.[6] Gaines was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and theft and conversion of government property. He was sentenced to six months in prison.[7]
Victor D. Cohen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, was the 50th conviction obtained under the Ill Wind probe when he pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and conspiring to defraud the government.[8]
Most worked for Unisys, pleading guilty to eight felonies, including the use of fraud, bribery and illegal campaign contributions to obtain billions of dollars in defense contracts.[9] Other top officials worked for Lee Telecommunications and Teledyne.[10]
The scandal led the United States Congress to pass the 1988 Procurement Integrity Act,[11] which regulates the pay that procurement officials can receive from contractors during the first year after they leave government, and forbids them providing bid and proposal information to their new employers.[12]
References
- ^ Marquis, Christopher (December 26, 2001). "M. R. Paisley, 77, Dies; Bid-Rigging Figure - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ Combatting Procurement fraud, U.S. Department of Justice, February 18, 2005, retrieved November 12, 2008
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) (archived from the original Archived 2006-09-25 at the Wayback Machine on 2006-09-25). - ^ "Tapes of Alleged Pentagon Bribery Reported by NBC - latimes". Los Angeles Times. June 25, 1988. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2013.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "This Day in GovCon History, June 14, 1988: "Operation Ill Wind" Raids". Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved August 1, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Ap (June 1, 1992). "Ex-Official Sentenced". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
- ^ "News". Los Angeles Times. 1991. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ Windfalls of War: Unisys Corporation, The Center for Public Integrity, 2007, archived from the original on December 15, 2007, retrieved November 12, 2008
- ^ "Marlowe-Fight-Ill-Wind-Charges/id-0cd8152f8a012c22191ac5adc080ad5f". Associated Press News.
- ^ 48 cfr 3.104-1 - 11, U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access, archived from the original on September 21, 2008, retrieved November 12, 2008
- ^ George Cahlink (July 15, 2004), Closing Doors, govexec.com, archived from the original on July 6, 2008, retrieved November 12, 2008