Ethics Corner

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles provided by the Staff Judge Advocate.

This series on ethics presents cautionary examples drawn from the DoD Standards of Conduct Office Encyclopedia of Ethical Failures. If you have questions about ethics or are unsure about a certain course of conduct, contact the NASCC Staff Judge Advocate’s office by calling 361-961-3535.

Today’s story highlights one way you may not want to bond with your spouse:

A former Department of the Treasury employee and her husband were sentenced to a year in prison for a scheme to funnel contracts to companies they personally controlled. The employee, who served as an Employee Development Specialist, was responsible for determining the training needs of Treasury employees and procuring private training services. Investigators discovered that over the course of two years, the employee had awarded 105 training contracts valued at more than $139,600 to companies owned by her husband.

The employee pled guilty to several charges, including violations of 18 U.S.C. 208, participating personally and substantially in matters in which she or her spouse had a financial interest. She was sentenced to a year of prison and three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $54,500 in restitution. Her husband also pled guilty to several charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy, and received the same sentence as his wife.