The American dream seemed to have come true for twin sisters in sleepy Lexington, South Carolina. They had a lucrative business with important government contracts. They were helping our troops in Iraq by supplying urgently needed parts for critical equipment. Their business was booming and the profits were astronomical.
Too bad they were conning the American public of over $20 million dollars in the process.
C&D Distributors bilked the military out of the money in shipping charges by exploiting a glitch in the payment processing system used to fulfill orders marked ‘priority.’ According to a story from Bloomberg Online, payments for orders with this designation were automatically paid by the computer without human oversight. When C&D discovered this they began taking advantage of the lack of oversight and charged exorbitant shipping charges. How exorbitant? Let’s just say that the $12.95 shipping charge added to your bill for Ginzu Knives pales in comparison.
Shipping charges ranged from $300,000 for an 89-cent washer to nearly $1 million dollars for two 19-cent washers.
Um, what?!?
These Americans took advantage of our country’s need for parts by overcharging on shipping charges to the tune of over $20 million dollars. And I’ll bet they proudly told everybody they were doing their part to support or troops.
Let’s see what the military could have used $20 million dollars on.
The Bloomberg article indicates that the surviving sister (the other twin died last year) faces a $750,000 fine and up 20 years in prison.
My opinion: the woman is a traitor to her country and to the military she was supposed to be supporting. She weakened the war effort by stealing much-needed funds, she took food from the mouths of our soldiers and she took armor from their bodies.
Jail and a fine is not enough – somebody get me some rope and a tall tree…
Too bad they were conning the American public of over $20 million dollars in the process.
C&D Distributors bilked the military out of the money in shipping charges by exploiting a glitch in the payment processing system used to fulfill orders marked ‘priority.’ According to a story from Bloomberg Online, payments for orders with this designation were automatically paid by the computer without human oversight. When C&D discovered this they began taking advantage of the lack of oversight and charged exorbitant shipping charges. How exorbitant? Let’s just say that the $12.95 shipping charge added to your bill for Ginzu Knives pales in comparison.
Shipping charges ranged from $300,000 for an 89-cent washer to nearly $1 million dollars for two 19-cent washers.
Um, what?!?
These Americans took advantage of our country’s need for parts by overcharging on shipping charges to the tune of over $20 million dollars. And I’ll bet they proudly told everybody they were doing their part to support or troops.
Let’s see what the military could have used $20 million dollars on.
| Cost | What $20M Will Buy | |
| Annual pay for an Army Private | $23,000 | 869 new Privates | >
| Military meal | $5.30 | 3,773,584 meals | >
| Case of rifle ammunition | $114 | 175,438 cases ammo | >
| Body Armor | $1500 | 13,333 units | >
The Bloomberg article indicates that the surviving sister (the other twin died last year) faces a $750,000 fine and up 20 years in prison.
My opinion: the woman is a traitor to her country and to the military she was supposed to be supporting. She weakened the war effort by stealing much-needed funds, she took food from the mouths of our soldiers and she took armor from their bodies.
Jail and a fine is not enough – somebody get me some rope and a tall tree…
Comments
Global. One of the VP's, formerly a Jacksonville, Fl resident,
(NY Times story here) Is currently under Federal indictment for
accepting bribes and bribing others to look the other way while millions of
dollars spent on false shipping charges for military supplies.
A FORMER HALLIBURTON SUBSIDIARY, KBR which won a contract before the war to
supply our military with essentials including food, fuel, and housing. Cleverly,
they sub contracted the job to Eagle Global Logistics which handled
transporting all goods on their behalf. The allegation is that a formerly
Houston based executive,
Kevin Smoot , a managing director of Eagle Global,
dispensed bribes and lied to federal executives.
This whole scheme involving overcharges was a result of a competing transporter, DHL, suffering a missile hit and fire before landing in Baghdad.
With this act, Eagle proceeded to increase its rates with a “War-risk Surcharge” which amounted to over a million dollars. Those KBR executives that turned their backs on Eagle’s overcharges , are said to have received more than $34,000 in gratuities each.
- Cockroach