Court document says the former CEO of FutureNet Group orchestrated a scheme to bribe Detroit city official to obtain illicit benefits.
Former Indian American CEO of Detroit-based FutureNet Group Inc. Parimal D. Mehta was on Tuesday indicted for his role in orchestrating a scheme to bribe an official of the City of Detroit to obtain illicit benefits for his information technology company.
The 54-year-old Mehta, who lives in Northville, Michigan, was charged with 11 counts in the court indictment, which includes five counts of honest services mail and wire fraud, one count of federal program bribery, and five counts of unlawfully using interstate facilities to commit bribery under Michigan law, the Department of Justice said in a press release.
The court document says Mehta regularly made cash payments to the former Director of Detroit’s Office of Departmental Technology Services Charls L. Dood from 2009 through August 2016. It includes two hand-delivered cash bribes, which Mehta directly gave Dodd in the restrooms of Detroit-area restaurants in 2016. Dood pleaded guilty to bribery on September 27, 2016.
The indictment also alleges that Mehta had employed Dodd’s family members at Futurenet and its subsidiaries, and, as a result, the company got preferential treatment. Dodd allegedly advised city officials to select Mehta’s company to implement particular technology projects. FutureNet received approximately $7.5 million for services in 2015 and 2016 from Detroit.
The company and CEO benefitted from Dodd’s influence over the administration of city contracts, expenditures under those contracts, and the hiring and selection of contract personnel
The indictment further alleges that Mehta obtained confidential information about Detroit’s internal budgets for specific technology projects. Dodd used his personal email to send copies of confidential mails to Mehta.
FBI’s Detroit Division is investigating the case. Trial Attorneys Robert J. Heberle and James I. Pearce of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section are prosecuting it.