October 18, 2018

A political consultant has plead guilty to illegally influencing the awarding of a Department of Energy contract to renovate part of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The consultant, Derf Butler, was allegedly approached by a developer who paid him $15,000 in cash to locate other developers and convince them to submit higher bids in exchange for subcontractor work on the project. He then lied to federal investigators about having any sort of financial relationship with the developer, even though by then, he’d requested another $15,000 and was anticipating additional funds. At least one developer who submitted a sham bid, Anton Kalafati of B Side Inc., has also plead guilty for his role in the fraud. USAO NDCA

Tagged in: Bribery and Bid-Rigging,