James Soriano is accused of taking bribes from two defense contractors
Here’s 2 Sources:
From US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California
A former civilian employee of San Diego-based Naval Information Warfare Center and a former executive with a South Carolina defense contractor were charged in an indictment unsealed today with participating in a bribery scheme to trade expensive meals, jobs and a ticket to a premiere sporting event for help obtaining more than $100 million in government contracts.
According to the indictment, James Soriano, of Las Vegas, Nevada, worked for the Naval Information Warfare Center, which provided contract administration services for the Navy. From 2006 to 2019, Soriano was an engineer, project leader and certified “Contracting Officer Representative” with technological expertise to help manage Department of Defense contracts. Soriano was supposed to act as liaison between the government and the contractor, including keeping contractor bid, proposal and selection information confidential, and protecting the integrity of the acquisition process by maintaining fairness in the government’s treatment of all bidders.
According to the indictment, Soriano instead used his considerable influence to steer lucrative contracts to Russell Thurston of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, who was an executive vice president of a company vying for defense contracts with locations in Arlington, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina. The company provided technical and consulting services in the information technology field.
The indictment said Thurston, and others working under him, gave Soriano various things of value including jobs for a family member and friends, free meals at various restaurants, as well as a ticket to the 2018 MLB All Star Game held at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. One of the friends who was given a job at Soriano’s request gave Soriano half her salary every month—approximately $2,000 per month—in cash. The indictment indicates the friend was not actually performing the duties for which she was being paid.
In return, Soriano took official action to benefit the company, including allowing Thurston and other employees to draft procurement documents for various contracting efforts, even where the company was competing for the contract against other bidders. As a result of Soriano’s efforts, the company won a task order with a more than $300 million ceiling. Soriano then approved numerous projects on this task order, ultimately causing the government to obligate more than $100 million to the company.
To conceal their activities, Thurston, Soriano, and other employees at the company would intentionally delete document properties on procurement documents drafted by employees. Soriano also failed to disclose the gifts on his yearly required OGE Form 450. For more details of the case, go here.
By Alex Riggins / San Diego Union-Tribune / March 9, 2024
An indictment unsealed Friday [March 8] revealed new details of a growing bribery scheme involving a former San Diego-area Department of Defense civil engineer who allegedly secured no-work jobs for family members and friends and accepted fancy meals and expensive sports tickets in exchange for helping government contractors obtain hugely lucrative contracts.
The scheme, being prosecuted in federal court in San Diego, centers around 63-year-old Las Vegas resident James Soriano, a former engineer at San Diego’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, which was formerly known by the acronym SPAWAR but has since changed its name to Naval Information Warfare Center [NAVWAR}.
Soriano was first indicted in November [2023] on charges that he accepted thousands of dollars worth of meals and tickets to the World Series and Super Bowl from Virginia-based defense contractor Philip Flores. In exchange for those perks, Soriano and a colleague allegedly steered lucrative contracts to Flores and his company, IntelliPeak Solutions, and took a variety of other actions to help Flores and IntelliPeak.
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