Louisville Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Involvement in Kickback Scheme

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Louisville, Ky. man, who previously admitted to bribing a former public official, was sentenced today to five years in federal prison.

Chief U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell sentenced Lawrence J. O’Bryan, 57, for convictions on three counts of bribery concerning a federally funded program. O’Bryan was also ordered to pay $100,000 fine and $642,201.50 in restitution. He has paid the restitution in full. Under federal law, O’Bryan must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence.

O’Bryan previously admitted that he accepted kickbacks on behalf of the former Secretary of the Kentucky Personnel Cabinet, Timothy Longmeyer, beginning in 2009.

According to O’Bryan’s plea agreement, Longmeyer agreed to use his former position to steer contracts to MC Squared Consulting. In return, the owner of MC Squared agreed to pay O’Bryan approximately half of MC Squared’s proceeds from these contracts. O’Bryan then kicked back a portion of these funds to Longmeyer. During his involvement in this scheme, O’Bryan accepted $642,201.50 in kickbacks from MC Squared and transferred a significant portion of those funds to Longmeyer.

O’Bryan pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery concerning a federally funded program in September 2016. Longmeyer pleaded guilty to a related charge and was sentenced to 70 months in prison in September 2016. Additionally, Samuel McIntosh and Myron Harrod, both affiliated with MC Squared, pleaded guilty to related charges in January 2017 and are currently awaiting sentencing.

Carlton S. Shier, IV, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Amy Hess, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, jointly announced the sentence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrew T. Boone and Kathryn M. Anderson.