Jackson Absconded With More Than $300,000 for Cups He Never Delivered
ATLANTA, GA - GREGORY JACKSON, 44, of Glendale, Arizona, pleaded guilty today in federal district court to defrauding the United States out of more than $300,000 for goods he never delivered under a government contract.
United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said of the case, “In this time of extremely tight budgets, every dollar counts. Taxpayers literally cannot afford criminal behavior that involves stealing funds from the government. This defendant cheated the taxpayers out of more than $300,000 under a government contract by not delivering the goods for which he was paid. He then tried to cover up his deception with a series of lies before skipping off with the money and leaving no forwarding address.”
Inspector General Brian D. Miller of the U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General, said, “Jackson lied and took federal money for goods he had no intention of delivering.”
According to United States Attorney Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: JACKSON, the owner and president of “Karson Distribution Company,” was awarded a United States General Services Administration (GSA) contract in 2005 to provide foam drinking cups to the federal government. In October and November 2005, the GSA placed multiple cup orders with Karson and paid almost $322,000 to the company in advance of delivery. After JACKSON failed to deliver the cups within 30 days as required by the contract, he engaged in a course of conduct intended to deceive the GSA, initially by falsely claiming that his “vendor” was responsible for the failure and then by falsely claiming that he was working with a “secondary” vendor to complete the contract.
JACKSON misrepresented his claimed vendor relationships, as well as the ability of his company to deliver cups. JACKSON continued to deceive the GSA into a false sense of security, and deflect GSA’s concerns about his failure to deliver, delay detection of his fraud, and ultimately impeded GSA from reporting his conduct. JACKSON then stopped communicating with the GSA altogether and could not be found in Illinois, where he had lived and claimed to be doing business. JACKSON was later discovered to be living in Arizona. JACKSON never returned the money that the GSA paid to his company and never delivered any cups in accordance with the contract.
JACKSON was indicted in November 2010 for wire fraud and theft of government money. Today he pleaded guilty to theft of government money and could receive a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentence, the Court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding but provide appropriate sentencing ranges for most offenders.
Sentencing is scheduled for August 9, 2011, at 10 a.m., before United States District Judge Thomas W. Thrash, Jr.
This case is being investigated by Special Agents of the U.S. General Services Administration, Office of Inspector General.
Assistant United States Attorney Stephen H. McClain is prosecuting the case.
For further information please contact Sally Q. Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.justice.gov/usao/gan.
