Former government contractor sentenced for role in bribery and kickback scheme

News Release from USDOJ Jan 15, 2021

WASHINGTON – A former government contractor was sentenced today for his role in a bribery and kickback scheme where he paid bribes to secure U.S. Army contracts.

David P. Burns, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Kenji M. Price, U.S. Attorney of the District of Hawaii; Ray Park, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command’s (Army-CID) Pacific Fraud Field Office; Bryan Denny, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS); and Eli “Sam” Miranda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Honolulu Field Office made the announcement.

John Winslett, 66, of Bristol, Rhode Island, was sentenced to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release before Chief Judge J. Michael Seabright in the District of Hawaii.

According to court documents and information presented in court, Winslett admitted that from 2011 to 2018, Winslett paid over $100,000 worth of bribes to two U.S. Army contracting officials who worked at the Range at Schofield Barracks, in order to steer federal contracts worth at least $19 million to his employer, a government contractor. The bribes included cash, automobiles, and firearms. In return, the contracting officials used their positions to benefit Winslett’s employer in securing U.S. Army contracts.

Winslett further admitted that he accepted $723,333.33 in kickbacks from a local subcontractor in exchange for Winslett assigning those contracts to that local subcontractor.

Army-CID, DCIS and the FBI investigated this case.

Trial Attorney Laura Connelly and Principal Assistant Chief Justin Weitz of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Wallenstein of the District of Hawaii are prosecuting the case.