Government Contracts Monitor

Wide-Ranging Army National Guard Recruiting Scheme Continues in Texas

September 9, 2013

In an indictment recently unsealed in the Southern District of Texas, four individuals were charged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to fraudulently obtain recruiting bonuses in connection with the Army National Guard Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP).  So far, 25 defendants have been charged in San Antonio and Houston areas of Texas, and 11 have pleaded guilty, including an Army National Guard Captain.

In United States v. Michael Rambaran, et. al., No. 13-CR-00513, the defendants were indicted on charges of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, and identity theft related to false referral claims in the G-RAP program.  The National Guard Bureau entered into a contract with Document and Packaging Broker, Inc. (Docupak) to administer the G-RAP program. G-RAP offered monetary incentives to soldiers in the Army National Guard who referred others to join the Army National Guard.  A participating soldier could receive up to $3,000 in bonus payments for a referral.  The scheme involved payments of kickbacks by G-RAP recruiting assistants to Rambaran, an Army National Guard recruiter, in exchange for the names and Social Security numbers of potential soldiers so that referral claims could be made when in fact the recruiting assistants did not recruit those soldiers.

In one of companion cases to the Rambaran case, former Army National Guard Specialist Xavier Aves was sentenced to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $244,000 in restitution so these cases have the potential for significant incarceration.      

Trial in the Rambaran case is currently set for October 15, 2013.   Given the breadth, scope, and seemingly relative ease of being able to conduct this fraud, it is not surprising that the G-RAP program is now defunct.  According to Major General H. Michael Edwards, the commander of the Colorado National Guard and Adjutant General of Colorado, where a similar case was prosecuted, “[d]ue to similar issues with this program, nationwide, the G-RAP recruiting programs have been cancelled.”  Seems like the right move.

 

Brian Stolarz is the attorney responsible for the content of this article.