ASFT's Dutta-Gupta Pleads Guilty, Faces Up to 15 Years in Federal Prison

Anjan Dutta-Gupta, founder and president of the now-defunct Advanced Solutions for Tomorrow (ASFT) that had offices in Middletown and Georgia, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Providence to bribing a public official in a kickback scheme involving more than $9 million of U.S. Navy funds, United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha announced Thursday.

Dutta-Gupta, 58, a resident of Roswell, GA, pleaded guilty to paying bribes to a civilian program manager and senior systems engineer with the United States Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) who worked out of offices in Newport and Washington, D.C., and to others, to ensure payment and additional funding to existing Naval contracts and future work to be done at ASFT, according to Neronha’s prepared statement.

Charges remain pending against the co-defendant in the case, Ralph Mariano, 52, of Arlington, VA, a civilian program manager and senior systems engineer with NAVSEA in Newport.

More details about the bribery and kickback scheme also emerged Thursday.

According to information presented in court and in court documents by Neronha’s prosecution team, from about 1996 through January 2011, ASFT allegedly funneled at least $8,000,000 through mainly independent subcontractors to Mariano while employed at NAVSEA, as well as to Mariano’s family members and to an unnamed senior vice president at ASFT. Federal investigators also alleged that at least $1,200,000 was paid to subcontractors based on inflated invoices and funneled back to SIC, another corporation owned by Dutta-Gupta. 

In exchange for Dutta-Gupta and ASFT’s kickbacks of millions of dollars from 1996 through 2011, Mariano allegedly took steps to ensure that ASFT received payment on invoices submitted and that additional funds were added to existing ASFT contracts when needed. In his position as program manager, Mariano regularly instructed Navy officers in charge of contracting to add funding to ASFT contracts and delivery orders, prosecutors alleged.

Mariano also completed numerous Funding Certification forms when he added funds to the ASFT contracts, according to court documents cited in Neronha’s prepared statement. Through these and other ways, Mariano allegedly utilized his position of authority at NAVSEA to add millions of dollars to existing ASFT contracts. In exchange, defendant Dutta-Gupta made regular payments to Mariano, according to prosecutors’ statement.

Anjan Dutta-Gupta’s sentencing by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mary M. Lisi is scheduled for December 9, 2011. Dutta-Gupta faces up to 15 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 or three times the value of the bribe payments, whichever is greater, according to prosecutors.

Co-defendant Ralph Mariano, who has been charged by way of a criminal complaint with participating in the kickback scheme, is awaiting trial.

The prosecution team includes Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lee H. Vilker and Andrew J. Reich.

Agents from the Defense Criminal Services, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Investigations division within the Internal Revenue Service have participated in the investigation of the case.

Since the investigation began, and laid off all employees in Rhode Island and in Georgia after federal investigators seized company assets.

Also this week, the U.S. Navy announced that it was