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U.S. Military Personnel Convicted of $50 Million Worth of Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan

posted by CoolHand on Thursday May 07 2015, @01:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the tip-of-the-iceberg dept.

AnonTechie writes in on a story from publicintegrity.org dealing with U.S. military personnel committing large amounts of theft, bribery, and contract rigging in overseas theaters.

Soldiers were selling the U.S. military’s fuel to Afghan locals on the side, and pocketing the proceeds. When Hightower suggested they start doing the same, Charboneau said, she agreed.

In so doing, Charboneau contributed to thefts by U.S. military personnel of at least $15 million worth of fuel since the start of the U.S. war in Afghanistan. And eventually she became one of at least 115 enlisted personnel and military officers convicted since 2005 of committing theft, bribery, and contract rigging crimes valued at $52 million during their deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a comprehensive tally of court records by the Center for Public Integrity.

Many of these crimes grew out of shortcomings in the military’s management of the deployments that experts say are still present: A heavy dependence on cash transactions, a hasty award process for high-value contracts, loose and harried oversight within the ranks, and a regional culture of corruption that proved seductive to the American troops transplanted there.

[Related]: http://www.militarycorruption.com/nguyen.htm

[Also Covered By]: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/05/u_s_troops_have_stolen_tens_of_millions_in_iraq_and_afghanistan_center_for.single.html

Of course, stealing from the military is not strictly limited to overseas. It wasn't that long ago that a single guy was convicted of the largest domestic kickback and bribery scheme at a cool $32.5Million

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by nitehawk214 on Thursday May 07 2015, @02:04PM

    by nitehawk214 (1304) on Thursday May 07 2015, @02:04PM (#179913)

    Oh, this is just the actual soliders and people on the ground.

    The real theft is from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ATK, and other contractors. The solider's crime is not having a contract and some type of bribe and you are good to go.

    --
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by AnonTechie on Thursday May 07 2015, @02:09PM

    by AnonTechie (2275) on Thursday May 07 2015, @02:09PM (#179917) Journal

    Very true. Those who misappropriate small amounts are thieves. To steal large amounts, you have to be a corporation !!

    --
    Albert Einstein - "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2015, @05:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2015, @05:19PM (#179990)

      Around here we have a saying:

      Little thieves wear iron chains; big thieves wear gold chains.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2015, @02:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2015, @02:19PM (#179921)

    Yeah, the thing is $50 million over 10 years can pretty much disappear when you've got a war that costs 100s of trillions each year.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2015, @04:29PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 07 2015, @04:29PM (#179972)

    Don't forget Haliburton.