Written by William Hale<\/p>\n
A contract manager for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has recently come under fire for colluding with companies bidding for improvement and repair contracts. Choon Foo \u201cKeith\u201d Yong has pleaded guilty to federal prosecutors along with FBI investigators, the joint investigation functions under the Justice Department\u2019s Procurement Collusion Strike Force.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yong conspired with multiple co-conspirators who\u2019s companies were engaging in \u201cshambids\u201d in order for Yong to ensure a particular contractor won the Caltrans contracts. Once the rigging was executed, the winning contractor would distribute benefits to the various contractors who conspired in the scheme by submitting fake bids. As the Caltrans manager, Yong would get 10% of the value for each transaction \u2014 with the total value of all the contracts (early 2015 to late 2019) estimated to be worth more than $8 million.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite these details being evident in Yong\u2019s plea deal, the contract manager seems to have not disclosed the companies and co-conspirators involved in the scheme. However, through Yong\u2019s cooperation with prosecutors, it was learned that Yong received bribes of up to $800,000 in cash when accounting for additional home remodeling, furniture and wine that he also received.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCaltrans takes these matters seriously and is fully cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s investigation. Because this is an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further,\u201d said Caltrans in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n While defense attorney Tom Johnson was quoted saying that Yong is \u201c…looking forward to getting this behind him and moving on to the next chapter in his life,\u201d that next chapter could potentially take form in jail for a maximum of up to 10 years, although prosecutors have agreed to recommend a low-end sentence in exchange for his cooperation.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Yong\u2019s sentencing is set for August.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo Cred: Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News\/ SCNG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by William Hale A contract manager for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has recently come under fire for colluding with companies bidding for improvement and repair contracts. Choon Foo \u201cKeith\u201d Yong has pleaded guilty to federal prosecutors along with FBI investigators, the joint investigation functions under the Justice Department\u2019s Procurement Collusion Strike Force.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n