Judge accepts guilty plea from Hanford contractor accused of COVID fraud

A U.S. District Court judge in Washington state this week accepted a guilty plea from the owner/operator of a small contractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site and scheduled sentencing for March. 

The U.S. attorney for Eastern Washington state asked a federal district judge to accept a plea agreement from a subcontractor at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site accused of fraud in connection with a COVID-19 reClief program.

In an Oct. 15 legal filing, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref asked that U.S. District Judge Stanley  Bastian accept the plea agreement from Wilson Pershing Stevenson, sole owner of BNL Technical Services. Stevenson would enter into a False Claims Act settlement and pay more than $1.1 million, according to the plea agreement signed in August.

The judge accepted the guilty plea to a single fraud count following a Tuesday hearing in Yakma. Sentencing is set for March 11. 

In April 2023, the Justice Department brought an indictment against Stevenson in federal court alleging the defendant received Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness valued at $1.3-million based on false statements. A companion case was also filed against BNL.

After government prosecutors presented “four expert notices” in April and May, the parties then asked the court to set a change of plea hearing for Aug. 27, according to the Oct. 15 filing.

“Starting in approximately early 2021, BNL began to shift its business away from staff augmentation for DOE prime contractors at Hanford and began doing more non-federal business in Tennessee,” according to the government filing. “On March 31, 2022, prior to the defendants having any knowledge of the criminal investigation that ultimately led to the instant Indictment, BNL, a Washington State limited liability company, was voluntarily dissolved in Washington State.”

BNL is the second Hanford contractor to be prosecuted for misuse of pandemic-era funds.

HPM Corp., former provider of occupations medical services at Hanford, in April 2022 agreed to pay about $3 million in settlement of false financial statements it made to obtain a COVID-19 loan.