Operation Ill Wind

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Operation Ill Wind was a three-year investigation launched in 1986 by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation into corruption by U.S. government and military officials, and private defense contractors. Charles "Chuck" Duff was the sole Air Force Action Officer responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing Air Force actions relating to the Department of Justice's "Ill Wind" procurement fraud investigation. Government officials, private individuals and companies were eventually convicted of various crimes including nine government officials, 69 Washington consultants and 7 military contractors, [1] as well as executives at GE, Boeing and United Technologies. [2] [3]

Melvyn Paisley, appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1981 by Republican President Ronald Reagan, [4] was found to have accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. He pleaded guilty to bribery and served four years in prison. [5]

James E. Gaines, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, took over when Paisley resigned his office. [6] Gaines was convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity and theft and conversion of government property. He was sentenced to six months in prison. [7]

Victor D. Cohen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, was the 50th conviction obtained under the Ill Wind probe when he pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and conspiring to defraud the government. [8]

Most worked for Unisys, pleading guilty to eight felonies, including the use of fraud, bribery and illegal campaign contributions to obtain billions of dollars in defense contracts. [9] Other top officials worked for Lee Telecommunications and Teledyne. [10]

The scandal led the United States Congress to pass the 1988 Procurement Integrity Act, [11] which regulates the pay that procurement officials can receive from contractors during the first year after they leave government, and forbids them providing bid and proposal information to their new employers. [12]

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On May 1, 1988, Tom Pappas, chief of staff to then-U.S. Representative Roy Dyson, jumped to his death after allegations from staff members led to implications that he was in a homosexual relationship with Dyson. Following the suicide, Dyson's office was linked to illegal contributions and bribes for the defense subcontractor Unisys to receive favorable appropriations contracts through Dyson's position on the Defense Appropriations Committee. The FBI's Operation Ill Wind resulted in the conviction of key Department of the Navy political appointees who had close ties to Pappas and Dyson.

References

  1. ↑ Marquis, Christopher (26 December 2001). "M. R. Paisley, 77, Dies; Bid-Rigging Figure - The New York Times". The New York Times . Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  2. ↑ Combatting Procurement fraud, U.S. Department of Justice, February 18, 2005, retrieved 2008-11-12 (archived from the original Archived 2006-09-25 at the Wayback Machine on 2006-09-25).
  3. ↑ "Tapes of Alleged Pentagon Bribery Reported by NBC - latimes". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 2016-06-09. Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2013-11-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ↑ "This Day in GovCon History, June 14, 1988: "Operation Ill Wind" Raids". Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2015-08-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ Ap (1992-06-01). "Ex-Official Sentenced". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  8. ↑ "News". Los Angeles Times . 1991. Retrieved 2020-01-19.
  9. ↑ Windfalls of War: Unisys Corporation, The Center for Public Integrity, 2007, archived from the original on 2007-12-15, retrieved 2008-11-12
  10. ↑ Marlowe-Fight-Ill-Wind-Charges/id-0cd8152f8a012c22191ac5adc080ad5f
  11. ↑ 48 cfr 3.104-1 - 11, U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access, archived from the original on 2008-09-21, retrieved 2008-11-12
  12. ↑ George Cahlink (July 15, 2004), Closing Doors, govexec.com, archived from the original on 2008-07-06, retrieved 2008-11-12
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