CALIFORNIA – A former U.S. Navy veteran has agreed to plead guilty in a $9 million fraud and bid-rigging scheme involving military contracts, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on August 20.
Cory Taylor Wright, 49, of Columbus, Georgia, is charged with wire fraud for orchestrating a multi-year conspiracy that funneled inflated and fraudulent Navy contracts to a company he co-founded. Wright faces up to 20 years in federal prison and is cooperating with federal prosecutors as part of his plea deal.
Wright served in the Navy from 1997 to 2017, including time in the Mobile Utilities Support Equipment (MUSE) division at Port Hueneme, where he worked on critical power systems for global military operations.
According to court documents, Wright partnered with a retired Navy colleague (Co-Conspirator 1) in late 2016 to form C&C Power Solutions (CCP) in Georgia. The co-conspirator, who remained an active and influential MUSE employee until retiring in 2021, secretly held a 50% stake in the business and steered lucrative military subcontracts to the company in exchange for kickbacks, including cash and payments to a private sporting club.
The fraudulent scheme began almost immediately after CCP’s formation. In one instance, Wright and his partner used fake inflated bids to manipulate the outcome of a $790,000 task order, ensuring CCP appeared as the most cost-effective option. Wright also created false invoices and documents to claim payment for work not completed, which the prime contractor then submitted to the Navy.
The fraud deepened in 2019, when Wright and his partner plotted to make CCP the primary contractor for MUSE—a contract valued in the tens of millions of dollars. They forged documents, including a fake performance questionnaire, and concealed the co-conspirator’s financial interests in CCP during the bidding process.
The DOJ says that from December 2016 to August 2022, the scheme led to over $9.1 million in fraudulent payments from the Navy to CCP.
Wright is expected to formally enter his guilty plea in the coming weeks.
The case is being investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS).
