Classified information leaked to media

Daniel Everette Hale, 33, of Nashville, Tenn., was sentenced July 27, 2021, to 45 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally obtaining classified national defense information and disclosing it to a reporter. Hale admitted meeting with the reporter in person multiple times and communicating with the reporter via phone, text message, email, and at times, an encrypted messaging platform. (OSI graphic by Mr. Albert Tubbs)

OSI fraud investigation recovers $2.1M for AF

Published April 16, 2021
By Linda Card
OSI Public Affairs

QUANTICO, Va. --

On April 14, Assistant United States Attorney, Mary Ann Couch, Northern District of Florida, provided a signed settlement agreement in the Mariana Air Corporation (MAC) investigation.

MAC, a contractor based out of Cantonment, FL, was contracted to repair/restore items to a serviceable condition for the C-5 airframe. This contract had been extended an additional 2 years for a total of 12 years concluding in 2015.

The investigation was initiated in May 2015, based upon information MAC had been adding a factor/multiplier of 2.1 to their labor hours. In the settlement, MAC (now in receivership) forfeited $2.1 million that the Air Force was withholding, based upon the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Procurement Fraud Division’s investigation.

“This was outstanding investigative work was done by OSI Special Agent Brian McElhenny when the case was reassigned to his office after Assistant United States Attorney Couch accepted and began to pursue civil damages,” said OSI Special Agent Wendell W. Palmer, Special Agent in Charge, OSI Procurement Fraud Detachment 5, Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Ga. “Outstanding work was also done by AUSA Couch, as the Statute of Limitation on this case was about to expire.”