A U.S. Navy port engineer pleaded guilty Tuesday to a conflict of interest charge, admitting that he improperly administered projects at the Navy’s Southwest Regional Maintenance Center involving a defense contractor with whom he had a financial relationship.
According to his plea agreement, John Nasshan, 55, made decisions and recommendations affecting Navy contracts with NevWest Inc., even though he made personal loans to a company official, which is a conflict of interest.
Nasshan has been employed at Southwest Regional Maintenance Center since March 2009.
As a Combat Systems Port Engineer, Nasshan drafted technical direction letters, recommended which contractors were qualified for jobs, and verified and certified work performed on Navy ships by contractors.
Among other things, San Diego-based NevWest provides combat systems engineering support, electronic technical support, enterprise management and application development services in command, control and communications, computers, combat systems, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
According to the government, Nasshan had a financial interest in the business affairs of NevWest between May 2011 and September 2015.
Court papers show that Nasshan loaned NevWest more than $30,000 at the same time the company was engaged in numerous subcontracts with Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, and despite recognizing that his job required that he administer NevWest subcontracts.
In order to hide and conceal the illegal activity, Nasshan and an official at NevWest agreed to keep their financial arrangement secret; to deal in cash when exchanging amounts over $10,000; and to structure the cash they were exchanging by dividing it up into amounts of $10,000 or less, according to the government.
Nasshan also lied to both Naval Criminal Investigative Service and FBI agents regarding his relationship with NevWest, according to prosecutors.
–City News Service
