Philip Bloom
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Philip Bloom, is an American businessman who pled guilty on April 18, 2006 to conspiracy, bribery and money laundering in connection with a scheme to defraud the Coalition Provisional Authority - South Central Region (CPA-SC) during the occupation of Iraq.
Bloom was accused of bribing Lieutenant Colonel Bruce D. Hopfengardner, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Wheeler, Lieutenant Colonel Debra Harrison and a CPA Comptroller and convicted felon named Robert Stein Jr.. Bloom admitted paying Stein and the others more than $2 million in money and gifts in return for them using their official positions to award contracts to Bloom and his companies. Bloom, Stein, and the others also facilitated numerous wire transfers of money that were the proceeds of the fraudulently awarded bids and at least $2 million in stolen money from the CPA, in order to conceal the source and origin of the funds.
Bloom, a U.S. citizen, is a construction contractor, who had been living in Romania before his arrest on 17 December 2005. His Romanian partners have denied all knowledge of his Iraq activities.
His Romanian-based companies are Global Business Group, GBG Holdings and GBG-Logistics Division.
A summary of the Bloom/ Stein conspiracy was published by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction as an appendix to is October 30, 2006 Quarterly Report to Congress. The conspiracy is estimated to have defrauded the Coalition Provisional Authority of more than $8.6 million.
On February 16th, 2007, Bloom was sentenced to 46 months in jail with probation following his sentence as part of a deal for cooperating with the investigation.
[edit] References
- ^ Contractor Pleads Guilty In Case Involving Bribery, Fraud And Money Laundering Scheme In Al-Hillah, Iraq, United States Department of Justice, April 18, 2006
- ^ FORMER COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY OFFICIAL AND CONTRACTOR ARRESTED IN CASE INVOLVING FRAUD AND MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME IN IRAQ, United States Department of Justice, November 17, 2005
- ^ Philip Bloom arrested in Iraq reconstruction deals scandal, Bucharest Daily News, December 16, 2005
- ^ A Summary of the Bloom/ Stein Conspiracy, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, October 30, 2006
