A] supplier of parts to the Pentagon billed them $998,798 to send 2 washers with a value of 38 cents to an Army installation in Texas, the tip of the iceberg in a Pentagon over-billing scam totaling over $20 million.
The two sisters who owned the company and lived ostentatiously on their criminal activities discovered a loophole in the Pentagon’s shipping system. Supplies to combat areas and military installations that had been labeled “priority” were paid automatically. Charlene Corley is the surviving sister and owner of C&D Distributors of Lexington, SC. She is being fined only $750,000 and “faces” 20 years on each count of an indictment for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money. The government is hoping to recoup some of its $20.5 million by selling off “homes, beach property, jewelry and ‘high-end automobiles”. It cannot recover the money from their vacations — a Pentagon spokesperson said, “They took a lot of vacations.”