Akron Man Sentenced in Bribery Conspiracy

Stanley Lojek was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after previously being found guilty of one count of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery in Federally Funded Programs, Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today.

Lojek, 83, of Akron, Ohio, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and ordered to make restitution. The amount of restitution has yet to be finalized.

Lojek was the President of Harvard Refuse, Inc., located in Cleveland, Ohio. Harvard Refuse, Inc. provided, among other things, parking lot and machine rental to the Kassouf Company and the Joint Venture it worked with.

William B. Schatz was the General Counsel of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) from 1979 until his retirement in August 2007. During his tenure, the NEORSD had major sewage tunnel contracts including the Mill Creek Tunnel Contract, Phases two and three. The Kassouf Company, as part of the Joint Venture, was one of several contractors who were awarded contracts to complete work on Mill Creek Tunnel Contract MCT-2 and Mill Creek Tunnel Contract MCT-3.

Lojek previously admitted that from in or about 2000, and continuing until on or about April 26, 2007, he conspired with William B. Schatz and Robert J. Kassouf, who was the President, and subsequently owner, of The Kassouf Company, to unjustly enrich William B. Schatz by paying him over $600,000 during the same time period that Kassouf and the Joint Venture had disputed claims arising from MCT-2 and MCT-3 pending before NEORSD. These payments were made in an effort to influence or reward William B. Schatz in connection with NEORSD legal settlements.

The conspirators accomplished this by William B. Schatz invoicing Harvard Refuse, Inc. for legal services that were not performed and receiving checks from Harvard Refuse, Inc; Lojek, in turn, invoiced Kassouf and the Joint Venture for payments not due Harvard Refuse, Inc. Kassouf and the Joint Venture, in turn, paid these invoices knowing that the money would be paid to William B. Schatz.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Justin J. Roberts and Daniel J. Riedl, following an investigation by the Cleveland offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.