Company Executive Pleads Guilty to $1 Million Fraud in Iraq

NYT

An executive for a company that was hired by Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary, to fly cargo into Iraq for the war effort has pleaded guilty to inflating invoices by $1.14 million to cover fraudulent "war risk surcharges," a federal district court in Illinois announced Thursday.

Charges against the executive, Christopher Joseph Cahill, 51, of Katy, Tex., had been sealed pending his plea agreement, said a spokeswoman for the court, in Rock Island, Ill., where the Army Field Support Command, which administers the Kellogg, Brown & Root contract, is situated. Mr. Cahill served as a regional vice president in Dubai for Eagle Global Logistics, a Houston-based company that won the contract from Kellogg, Brown & Root in 2002, court papers say.

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Mr. Cahill is the second contractor in two weeks to plead guilty to financial misdeeds in Iraq. On Feb. 2, Robert J. Stein Jr., who worked for S&K Technologies, of St. Ignatius, Mont., pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering and other charges in connection with stealing millions of dollars as an official with the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Melissa Norcross, a spokeswoman for Kellogg, Brown & Root, said in a written statement that the company had been "exceptionally forthcoming with requests for information and has complied and cooperated with all government reviews of its business, to include requests for information regarding actions of subcontractors, such as" Eagle Global Logistics.

Sentencing in Mr. Cahill's case has been set for May 26. A court statement said the maximum sentence for federal fraud was 10 years in prison, a fine of $5 million, or both.....