DOJ: Gate Engineering and Albith Colón plead guilty to Tricon kickbacks

On May 19, 2005 the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Gate Engineering Corporation (Gate) and its president, Albith Colón, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit mail fraud in a kickback scheme that defrauded Tricon Restaurants International, owner and operator of fast-food restaurants in Puerto Rico (later Encanto Restaurants). According to the charge filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, between October 2000 and March 2004 Gate and Colón paid bribes to a Tricon employee in exchange for electrical contracts totaling more than $1 million. The employee, a technical-services supervisor, solicited quotes and selected the subcontractor; Tricon did not know about the payments. This note tracks DOJ release 05-at-280: plea ≠ sentence; Gate and Colón awaited formal sentencing.

The conspiracy is charged under 18 U.S.C. § 371: maximum fine of $500,000 for a corporation and up to five years in prison plus a $250,000 fine for an individual, with a possible increase to twice the gain or loss if that figure exceeds the statutory maximum. The case was the first from a joint investigation by the Antitrust Division (Atlanta Field Office), USAO-PR, the GSA Office of Inspector General (New York) and the SBA Office of Inspector General in Puerto Rico. DOJ stressed that such schemes deprive companies of the honest services of their employees and of competitive prices.

In the same Tricon line, on June 1, 2005 a grand jury indicted Jorge L. Matos Burgos — the supervisor who received about $31,000 in kickbacks; Matos was convicted in August and sentenced November 15, 2005 to 12 months and a day. In 2006 attorney José Guardiola Ramírez received 33 months for obstruction tied to Gate/Colón (cousin 669). Primary: justice.gov archives AT. Topic politics. Cousin: 669.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2005/May/05_at_280.htm