The 95% Pass-Through
James Clark — never a service-disabled veteran — ran front companies that won $12M in set-aside contracts and passed up to 95% of the money through to his own ineligible firm.
Clark, neither a service-disabled veteran nor an 8(a) participant, used proxy and pass-through companies that falsely certified to the VA and SBA that they were veteran- or disadvantaged-owned and controlled.
He concealed his role providing bonding assistance and asserting control over those businesses. The companies won contracts meant for legitimate firms and passed through up to 95% of the proceeds to Clark’s own unqualified company — underbidding and depriving genuinely qualified businesses.
Seven federal investigative agencies, including VA OIG, worked the case.
"passed through up to 95% of the contract proceeds to his own unqualified company"
— U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Ohio. Case file in the VA Fraud case files — part of the VA Fraud record. Cases are published as the courts decided them; amounts are stated as the Justice Department states them (billed, stolen, or ordered in restitution, as labeled).