Milwaukee firms suspected of federal fraud

Federal agents are investigating a scheme in which several Milwaukee-area businesses are suspected of landing $268 million in government contracts by fraudulently claiming they are owned by minorities and military veterans, according to a search warrant filed in federal court in Milwaukee late Friday.

The companies received “set-aside” contracts to do work for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Army and other government agencies under federal programs intended to help disadvantaged companies, but the firms in question were not actually owned or operated by the people listed on the contracts, the warrant said.

Federal agents raided the businesses near N. 55th St. and W. Florist Ave. Wednesday. The FBI, which conducted the raid along with several other agencies, would only say the case involved allegations of fraud against the government.

But a 48-page affidavit for a federal search warrant lays out a complex fraud scheme involving a web of interconnected companies set up with phony minority and veteran owners to snag lucrative contracts.

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2016/08/05/milwaukee-firms-suspected-federal-fraud/88312616/