White-Collar Crime: Helen Renee Ballard and Robert S. Ballard Plead Guilty In Nepotism Scheme

<h2>Former GSA Official and Husband Plead Guilty In Nepotism Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>ALEXANDRIA&comma; Va&period; – A former senior official with the General Services Administration and her husband pleaded guilty today to engaging in a nepotism scheme in which they conspired to fraudulently obtain employment from the U&period;S&period; government and private federal contractors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>According to the statement of facts filed with their plea agreements&comma; Helen Renee Ballard&comma; 51&comma; and Robert S&period; Ballard&comma; 56&comma; both of Brandywine&comma; Maryland&comma; pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements to the United States&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Helen Renee Ballard &lpar;aka Renee Ballard&rpar; was the Director of the Central Office Contracting Division of the U&period;S&period; General Services Administration &lpar;GSA&rpar; from May 2006 to May 2011 and worked for GSA until 2016&period; From 2010 through July 2014&comma; Renee Ballard and her husband&comma; Robert S&period; Ballard &lpar;aka Steve Ballard&rpar;&comma; engaged in a scheme to enrich themselves by obtaining employment with federal contractors and the U&period;S&period; government through false and misleading statements concerning Steve Ballard’s relation&comma; education&comma; and qualifications&period; As part of the more than &dollar;200&comma;000 scheme&comma; Renee and Steve Ballard fraudulently induced a federal contractor located in Arlington to hire Steve Ballard&period; The Arlington based contractor then placed Steve Ballard on a federal contract awarded by GSA and supervised by Renee Ballard&period; Later&comma; Renee Ballard attempted to hire Steve Ballard for a position within GSA under her supervision&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the statement of facts&comma; Renee and Steve Ballard caused over 139 false employment applications to be submitted to federal agencies&comma; including the FBI&comma; Office of the Director of National Intelligence&comma; U&period;S&period; State Department&comma; U&period;S&period; Transportation and Security Administration&comma; Department of Veterans Affairs&comma; Department of Education&comma; Federal Communications Commission&comma; Federal Emergency Management Agency&comma; Department of Labor&comma; U&period;S&period; Office of Personnel Management&comma; and the Internal Revenue Service&period; These applications falsely misrepresented Steve Ballard’s education and qualifications&comma; including that he had earned or taken classes toward a master’s degree and was certified in government contracting at Levels I&comma; II&comma; and III&period; In order to corroborate these false representations&comma; Renee and Steve Ballard obtained and submitted fake certification documents&period; In addition to these fraudulent applications&comma; the Ballards sent Steve Ballard’s false resume to the Executive Office of the President in an attempt to obtain employment there&period; Subsequently&comma; Steve Ballard submitted false applications to at least six different private contractors who worked&comma; at times on-site&comma; with the federal agencies&comma; including GSA and U&period;S&period; Customs and Border Protection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Ballards each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison sentenced on July 28&period; The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes&comma; as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Dana J&period; Boente&comma; U&period;S&period; Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia&semi; and Carol Fortine Ochoa&comma; Inspector General&comma; GSA&comma; made the announcement after the plea was accepted by Senior U&period;S&period; District Judge Claude M&period; Hilton&period; Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorneys Uzo Asonye and Katherine Wong are prosecuting the case&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-edva&sol;pr&sol;former-gsa-official-and-husband-plead-guilty-nepotism-scheme">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

White Collar Crimes