RUTLAND — A Florida man has admitted taking $2.5 million in bribes and kickbacks from companies seeking contracts to work on energy saving projects in federal buildings, including one for the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in White River Junction.
Bhaskar Patel, 67, of Windermere, Florida, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in Rutland to two felony charges, each carrying maximum penalties of 10 years in prison. He remains free on his personal recognizance pending a Dec. 7 sentencing hearing.
Judge Geoffrey Crawford said federal probation officials would conduct a pre-sentence investigation before he formally hands down a sentence for Patel.
As part of a plea agreement, federal prosecutors filed a notice of forfeiture totalling $2,536,119 from Patel. The plea agreement states that prosecutors have agreed to reduce the forfeiture amount to $1.75 million if Patel pays $950,000 on or before his sentencing.
He also faces fines of up to $5,072,238.38, or twice his ill-gotten gains.
Among the items federal prosecutors are seeking to seize as part of the forfeiture are his property in Windermere; a 2012 Mercedes-Benz E Class E350 vehicle; a watch; six rings; 43 earrings; 10 bracelets; 18 bangles; six pendants, $35,700 in Indian rupees; and a timeshare property in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
David Haas, an Orlando, Florida, lawyer representing Patel, declined comment on the case following Monday’s hearing.
Assistant U.S Attorney Abigail Averbach, a prosecutor in the case, said charges against other individuals involved in the case are possible, though she declined to say who those people might be. Court records do indicate that in some cases Patel directed those paying him to write checks to his adult son and daughter.
His children are only identified in court papers as “J.P.” and “F.P.”
Patel received the bribes and kickbacks when he served as a senior project manager for Schneider Electric Building Americas, based in Andover, Massachusetts. He was responsible for obtaining bids from subcontractors and recommending for selection the subcontractors that would be awarded a contract under an energy saving project.
David Smith, a spokesman for Schneider Electric, said after Monday’s hearing that Patel was terminated as soon as the allegations of wrongdoing came to light.
Smith added that the company is cooperating with federal prosecutors in the case.
According to the charges against him, while employed by Schneider Electric, Patel “unlawfully solicited and accepted” $2,536,119 in bribes and kickbacks.
The payments were associated with federal energy savings performance contracts issued to Schneider Electric by various federal agencies from June 6, 2011, to April 19, 2016.
Patel’s scheme came to light when law enforcement received information that he had altered and falsified a bid document submitted to Schneider Electric by a Vermont subcontractor bidding for work on an energy savings project at the White River Junction VA facility, according to court records.
Patel selected a different contractor to work on Scheider’s project and, to “cover his tracks,” falsified the losing bid from the local Vermont contractor, Averbach, the prosecutor, said Monday in court.
The Vermont contractor who tipped authorities off to Patel’s fraud is not named in court records, nor are any of the other subcontractors. Averbach declined to name the Vermont company, saying that federal prosecutors do not name innocent victims in filings.
Schneider Electric did not receive the VA contract because of Patel’s scheming, court records stated.
From that first tip, authorities detected more instances of similar ruses, with Patel in total receiving more than $2.5 million in illegal bribes and kickbacks in exchange for awarding Schneider’s federal contracts to subcontractors who had paid him, the prosecutor said.
Among the projects for which Patel took illegal bribes and kickbacks:
• a $70 million project for the U.S. Coast Guard in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico;
• a $24.7 million project for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Albany, California;
• a $12.6 million project for the U.S. General Services Administration in St.
Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands;
• a $21.8 million project for GSA in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands;
• a proposed project of $42.4 million for work on the VA medical centers in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine;
• and a $114.3 million project for the U.S. Navy for work on the Naval base in Coronado, California.
The specific charges Patel pleaded guilty to on Monday included one count of accepting an illegal kickback in connection with a federal contract, and a separate count of accepting bribes in connection with federal contracts.
