US federal court indicts defence contractor MLS' CEO for bribing Navy officials

The chief executive officer (CEO) of US defence contractor Multinational Logistics Services (MLS), has been booked for "alleged participation" in a bribery scheme, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement on Monday. CEO Frank S. Rafaraci was indicted by a US Court for bribing US Navy officials in 2011 and transferring proceeds to a foreign bank account among other similar charges.

On Monday, Rafaraci appeared before the US Court in the District of Columbia to face criminal charges for being involved in a "wide-ranging scheme" to defraud the US Navy using falsely inflated invoices and launder the proceeds of the scheme through shell companies he set up in the UAE, the US DoJ said in a press release.

As per the court affidavit, Rafaraci is also accused of involvement in laundering US taxpayers' money and "wasting tremendous valuable resources through falsified invoices," Special Agent in Charge Eric Maddox of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Economic Crimes Field Office, said in a statement.

“Frank Rafaraci allegedly defrauded the Navy, bribed a Navy official, and laundered money through foreign bank accounts for years,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.

Rafaraci was provisionally arrested in Malta on 27 September 2021 at the request of the US, DoJ informed. "Proceedings in Malta concluded upon his voluntary return to the United States on October 18," it added. On September 30, Rafaraci was indicted by a grand jury in the district of Columbia and charged with one count of bribery. If convicted, Rafaraci will face a maximum term of 15 years in prison. He will be prosecuted before a federal district court judge who will determine the sentence for him.

MLS received over $1bn contracts from US Navy

A non-resident US citizen Rafaraci has remained the CEO of the company since 2005. One of the largest ship husbanding companies in the US, MLS is said to have received contracts worth $1.3 billion from the US Navy since 2010. The defence contractor has provided services like refuelling, stocking provisions, ship husbanding to the US Navy at ports worldwide.

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