Project Manager for Bridge Street/Westin Hotel Condominiums Indicted for Mail/Wire Fraud and Money Laundering
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 01, 2009 |
BIRMINGHAM, AL—SCOTT HIPPARD, 51, of Gulf Breeze, Florida, was indicted today in U.S. District Court in Birmingham. United States Attorney Alice H. Martin of the Northern District of Alabama and Charles Regan, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced the 14-count indictment for mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Counts 1 through 4 charge HIPPARD with mail fraud. Counts 5 through 8 charge HIPPARD with wire fraud, and the remaining 6 counts are money laundering charges. According to the indictment, HIPPARD, on behalf of Cornerstone Management Solutions, Inc, was responsible for managing and ultimately deciding which general contractor would be awarded the contract for the construction of the condominiums at the Westin Hotel located at the Bridge Street Town Centre in Huntsville, Alabama. HIPPARD devised a scheme to have a certain individual awarded the contract to build the condominiums. In return, the individual would inflate his bid and kick back a portion of the overages to HIPPARD.
The maximum sentence for mail and wire fraud is twenty years in prison and a $250,000 in fines and ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
“The contract prices were increased by over $1.3 million to pay for kick-backs harming the owner of this development and potential buyers,” stated U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin.
“The public can be assured that the FBI is committed to investigating this type of fraud. Public corruption and government fraud is secretive in nature. If anyone is aware of corruption, fraud or kickbacks, contact your local FBI office,” stated Charles Regan, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This case was investigated by Special Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David H. Estes on behalf of the United States.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.