Couple guilty of federal crimes
By John Joyce
Published in News on December 20, 2015 3:05 AM
A couple from LaGrange now face up to 60 and 50 respective years in prison after a federal jury convicted them each of defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of millions of dollars in government contracts.
The couple will be sentenced in June, 2016.
Prosecutors from the Unites States Attorney's Office, eastern District of Tennessee, landed convictions of both Ricky Anthony Lanier, 43, and Katrina Reshina Lanier, 43, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and major fraud against the United States.
Lanier faces up to 60 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Mrs. Ranier is facing as many as 50 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice press release, the Laniers contracted more than $16 million in government construction contracts and personal expenses through shell companies and front men for work completed in national parks and at a V.A. Hospital in Mountain Home, Tenn.
Between Nov. 2006 and April 2013, Lanier listed a friend and service-disabled veteran as the owner of Kylee Construction Company, and said that friend was involved in the day- to- day operations of the company despite that person being in Afghanistan working as a government contractor. Simultaneously, the Laniers used a business owned by one of Lanier's college roommates, JMR Investments, as a front to obtain contracts from the National Parks Service, the press release said.
This resulted in the Laniers and their shell companies being awarded construction contracts at a wastewater treatment facility at the Tremont Institute in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the James H. VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tenn., and to receive under $2 million in financial benefit used for personal expenses, according the press release.
The Laniers were originally legitimately operating a business supported by a VA entrepreneurs program called the VA Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) program. But, in 2008 that business became ineligible due to its success. That is when the Laniers switch their companies to the names of a friend and of a former college roommate and began to illegally procure government contracts, the press release said.
The false representations resulted in Kylee Construction being awarded $5 million in government contracts, and JMR Investments being awarded $9 million in government contracts.
The Lanier's trial lasted 13 days and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Neil Smith and David Gunn.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee Nancy Harr said the integrity of the SDVOSB program is vital to its continued success.
"The U.S. Attorney's Office will aggressively pursue and prosecute those who attempt to defraud that federal program and, therefore, the United States."