A North Carolina couple has been sentenced to federal prison terms for fraudulently obtaining contracts intended for Department of Veterans Affairs’ service-disabled veteran-owned small business and the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 8(a) business development program participants.
According to a Department of Justice news release, Ricky Anthony Lanier and wife Katrina Reshina Lanier were sentenced for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and major fraud against the United States after receiving over $2 million in personal benefits from a scheme running from November 2005 to April 2013.
Ricky Lanier represented a friend and service-disabled veteran as the active owner of Kylee Construction, while also using JMR Investments, owned by Lanier's college roommate, as a front. These two businesses pursued and were awarded over $15 million in cumulative government contracts, inflating costs while subcontracting out the majority of the work for projects from the National Park Service and other federal agencies.
The couple — investigated by the Offices of Inspector General for Veterans Affairs, Small Business Administration and Department of the Interior, and found guilty after a 13-day trial in December 2015 — will receive federal prison terms of 48 months (Ricky) and 30 months (Katrina).
