Date: July 10, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A Shiprock man pleaded guilty in federal court to orchestrating a bid-rigging and money laundering scheme that defrauded a federally-funded Native American educational institution of approximately $1.5 million over a three-year period. According to publicly available court documents, William Badoni admitted to conspiring with his co-defendant, Elroy Harry, an employee of Kinteel Residential Campus, Inc. (KRCI) from April 2018 to June 2019 to obtain non-public information about construction projects and the bidding process. This information was used to give Badoni’s company an unfair advantage in winning KRCI contracts. Badoni also arranged for the submission of falsified bids from other companies to circumvent KRCI's contracting policies. The contracts and related change orders resulted in revenue of approximately $1.5 million paid to Badoni’s company by KRCI between 2016 and 2019. In exchange for this assistance, Badoni paid Harry approximately $50,000. These payments were made in cash and by check, using funds derived largely from the fraudulently obtained contracts. Additionally, Badoni admitted to conducting financial transactions to conceal the proceeds of the illegal scheme. This involved depositing portions of contract payments into bank accounts while taking other portions in cash to avoid creating records of payments made with fraudulently obtained funds. Harry pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit federal program fraud and remains on conditions of release pending sentencing, which is currently scheduled for August 7, 2024. The Court ordered that Badoni remain on conditions of release pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled. At sentencing, Badoni faces up to twenty years in prison and a fine up to $500,000 or twice the pecuniary gain resulting from the fraud. Upon his release from prison, Badoni will be subject to up to three years of supervised release. U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez, Andy Tsui, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation Denver Field Office, and Jamie DePaepe, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Inspector General made the announcement today. IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Inspector General investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorneys Taylor F. Hartstein and Mark Probasco are prosecuting the case.
