Thursday, June 26, 2008

Army Officer and his Wife Plead Guilty To a Money Laundering Scheme Involving the Department of Defense

The Department of Justice reports that 43 year old John Cockerham, a U.S. army officer, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count of money laundering. Cockerham’s wife, Melissa Cockerham, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering.

John while deployed in Kuwait was responsible for awarding contracts for services to be delivered to troops in Iraq. John received up to $9 million for awarding illegal contracts, and then directed the contractors to pay his wife and sister to hide the fact that he was accepting bribes. Melissa stored the cash in safe deposit boxes in both Kuwait and Dubai.

John and Melissa have been cooperating with the government in an effort to retrieve the money from overseas banks.



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