PITTSBURGH — Two men formerly from Pittsburgh were ordered to pay nearly $500,000 due to their conviction in a major fraud scheme against the United States.
Edward DiGorio Jr., 66, and Edward Kessler, 69, were the owners of two construction companies in Pittsburgh. The companies were formed for the purpose of bidding on and acquiring “set-aside” contracts issued by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to small businesses owned and operated by service-disabled veterans of the U.S. military and pre-certified by the VA as Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Businesses (SDVOBs), the Department of Justice said.
Neither DiGorio nor Kessler had served in the military, nor were they service-disabled, officials said.
DiGorio and Kessler paid service-disabled veterans to falsely represent themselves as the primary owners and operators of ADDVETCO and Hi-Def, and to falsely attest to ownership of the companies on critical documents submitted to the VA as part of the SDVOB certification process. This is known as a “Rent-A-Vent” scheme.
DiGorio and Kessler were sentenced Tuesday to one year of probation, including 100 hours of community service, for their convictions. They must also pay a fine of $50,000 along with $403,142 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Over 11 years, the companies were awarded 67 contracts that were intended for SDVOBs, 50 of which were worth $1 million or more.
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