WASHINGTON Nov 16, 2005 - An American businessman living overseas paid at least $630,000 in kickbacks to U.S. occupation authority officials to win reconstruction contracts in Iraq, according to a federal affidavit made public Wednesday.
Philip H. Bloom, a U.S. citizen who has lived in Romania for many years, was arrested recently at Newark International Airport in New Jersey. He made a brief appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington and remains in federal custody.
Prosecutors at the court hearing did not detail the charges against Bloom, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson said they involve money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the government. The charges remain under seal.
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A government affidavit alleges that Bloom conspired with officials of the Coalition Provisional Authority and U.S. military to rig bids for contracts in Al-Hillah and Karbala, two cities 50 to 60 miles south of Baghdad. In some cases, Bloom's companies performed no work, Patrick McKenna Jr., an investigator in the IG's office, said in the affidavit. [my em]
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I wonder if defrauding the United States during wartime is punishable by death? I'm sure the Chimp will give him a Medal of Freedom.
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