Late last summer, Tactical Products Group, LLC (TPG) CEO Dan Thomas Lounsbury, Jr and Vice President for Sales and Federal Contracting Andres Lopez-Munoz were indicted by the US Government for conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims and wire fraud. Lounsbury is additionally charged with false, fictitious, or fraudulent claims.
Last week, they stood trial in the Eastern District of Virginia and were found guilty on charges of conspiracy, making false claims on the United States government, and wire fraud.
In 2012, TPG was selected as a sub-contractor to Triple Canopy on a contract to provide certain goods, including 10 sets of hard body armor plates, to the United States government.
The Government had requested a specific type of plate, and Lounsbury and Lopez-Munoz both knew that no substitutions were allowed. Furthermore, Lounsbury and Lopez-Munoz both knew that these plates were intended to protect government personnel in the field. Nevertheless, Lounsbury and Lopez-Munoz worked together to procure cheaper substitute plates, none of which were military-tested, and some of which were far outside of their warranty period. To get the United States government to accept and pay for these plates, Lounsbury and Lopez-Munoz had fake labels created and placed on the armor, falsely representing the plates to be the specific type that the government had ordered.
Lounsbury and Lopez-Munoz face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when sentenced on May 10. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Wow…..maybe they should be required to be shot at dawn while wearing their crappy plates.
Does this company own tac pro gear also based out of Boynton Beach, Fl?
Same Company. KARMA always catches up with crooks.
Seems like it, they have the same statement on their website as Tactical Product Group
Wow. They supply several local law enforcement agencies in palm beach county with armor and gear. Pretty disgusting.
Wonder how much they saved on those 10 plates. Probably not enough to be worth the jail time. Which makes me wonder how many other times they’d done this. People that defraud tend to do it more than once.
You have love acquisition stories though. A vendor wins a bid, then hires a subcontractor to actually buy the items. The subcontractor is supposed to buy specific items (possibly from a specific manufacturer) but slaps a fake label on a knockoff.
This is the same company as Tac Pro Gear. Look at their linkedin under their contacts. Both websites listed for TPG and Tac Pro Gear
Both websites have the same contact phone # for the office and are on the same street.
Hopefully they get to serve the full 20. Unacceptable and without integrity and a shame to our industry. Lives are at stake here, people. American lives!!!! POS
Federal correction does not have “time off for good behavior”. Inmates serve the full time they are given by the judge ie 20 yrs is 20 yrs.
Excellent to hear!
Not surprised and am sure it is tip of the iceberg. Had multiple meetings with those guys and always walked away feeling like I needed to take a shower
Hey just trying to understand this, read multiple articles on Washington Post
They sold to triple Canopy, Triple Canopy sold to GOV, they got charged did Triple Canopy get charged?
Just seems like in our political system little guys always get shafted (not defending them in anyway).
If you are in the industry makes you question how come nothing ever happens to the big companies, all the crap with ADS and LBT.
In this instance Triple Canopy was also defrauded as they received what they thought were the correct plates. If you buy pressure treated lumber at a large home improvement store do you test to make sure it’s been correctly treated? Nope, because the place you bought from said it was good. I’m not saying the big contactors are blameless, ADS just paid out $16 million to settle a lawsuit from bid manipulation and SEK and Karda heads are looking at federal prison time for shady stuff they did to win contracts.
They must have really needed to maximize the profit on that $3,500 sale to destroy their lives over it…
Nice to see that the federal bureaucracy and judicial system can sometimes get things right.