ALABAMA
A judge sentenced a former federal contractor to four years in prison for accepting kickbacks and tax evasion by hiding $2 million in kickbacks from the IRS, according to officials.
Victor Villalobos, 47, of Enterprise, Alabama, resident, worked for a federal prime contractor at Fort Rucker, Alabama.
In 2009, Villalobos approached Maxim Silinsky, a Florida-based subcontractor and solicited illegal kickbacks on the federal subcontracts that Silinsky held in connection with the federal prime contractor.
Villalobos agreed that in exchange for kickback payments he would refrain from conduct that would unfavorably affect Silinsky’s business relationship with the federal prime contractor.
In addition, he agreed to help ensure that Silinsky got additional business.
As part of his plea, Villalobos admitted that from June 2009 to December 2014, he received approximately 57 separate wire transfers totaling more than $1.9 million in kickback payments from various foreign and domestic bank accounts controlled by Silinsky.
At two separate meetings in 2015, Villalobos accepted envelopes from Silinsky containing cash kickbacks totaling $60,000.
Between June 2009 and February 2015, Villalobos attempted to conceal his receipt of the kickbacks by forming nominee entities and opening nominee bank accounts.
Villalobos also admitted that he evaded paying income taxes on the kickback payments by causing false federal income tax returns to be filed with the IRS.
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley ordered Villalobos to pay $542,562 in restitution to the IRS.
As part of his plea agreement, Villalobos also agreed to be permanently debarred from federal government contracting.
In an interview after he was indicted, Villalobos told the Dolthan Eagle newspaper that he was innocent of the charges of kickbacks made against him by the federal government.
“I’ve never done anything illegal in my life,” he told the newspaper. “I have a clear record, education wise, work wise, I give 100 percent to everything I do.”
Silinsky plead guilty to filing a false tax return in November 2015 and cooperated in the investigation and prosecution of Villalobos.
Silinsky was sentenced to one year and one day in prison on Feb. 2.
Silinsky also cooperated in the investigation and prosecution of Trevor Smith, a retired U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant who plead guilty in October 2015 to unlawfully disclosing confidential procurement information and filing a false tax return.
On Jan. 28, Smith was sentenced to 18 months in prison.