February 28, 2023

Seven defendants who previously pleaded guilty to defrauding a federal program that provides technology to underprivileged schools has been sentenced to up to 4 years in prison each and ordered to pay up to $1 million each in restitution.  Four of the defendants—Peretz Klein, Susan Klein, Ben Klein, and Sholem Steinberg—misrepresented themselves and their companies as vendors to schools participating in the federal E-Rate program, receiving over $14 million in federal funds even though they failed to provide much of the equipment ordered.  Two other defendants—Simon Goldbrener and Moshe Schwartz—misrepresented themselves as consultants who helped schools participate in the E-Rate program, when in fact, they took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from the above vendors to circumvent the bidding process.  A final defendant, Aron Melber, was a school official who falsely certified to having obtained E-Rate-funded equipment and services through a fair and open bidding process.  USAO SDNY

Tagged in: Bribery and Bid-Rigging, Certifications, Education Fraud, Government Programs Fraud,