A retired Army colonel involved in a $20 million bribery and bid-rigging scheme in government contracts at Fort Gordon was sentenced to five years in prison Friday.
Anthony Williams, 59, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in March for his role in the scheme that was in effect from 2008 to 2014 as the building and modernization of communications networks at Fort Gordon took place. Williams took $1.2 million in bribes while on active duty in Washington and in charge of the billion-dollar battle command budget.
Williams conspired with retired Col. Calvin Lawyer, who left his position overseeing the fort’s building and modernization of networks to start his own business to obtain government contracts. Col. Anthony Roper took Lawyer’s former position and steered government contracts valued at $20 million to Lawyer’s company and a second company, a subcontractor owned by Williams’ good friend, identified only as “J.D.Y.” in court documents.
It was at J.D.Y.‘s company that a no-show job was set up for Williams’ wife, who was paid $963,000. The subcontractor was paid $13 million, a sum not included in the formal conspiracy, Senior Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. noted Friday.
Continue reading at: The Augusta Chronicle
