Former OPM Employee Pleads Guilty to Steering Millions in Contracts to Family-Connected Firms

In Washington, D.C., a federal court, an ex-employee of U.S. Office of Personnel Management has pleaded guilty.

Authorities said she was accused of steering over $10 million in contracts to her husband or other companies that were associated with her.

Sheron Spang, a former OPM employee, will be sentenced on Sept. 21.

Former employee of the U.S.

Office of Personnel Management

Plead

In Washington, D.C., federal courts on Friday to steer more than $10 millions worth of OPM

Contracts

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Authorities said that she or her husband had been in contact with each other for 12 years.

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Former OPM

Sheron Spang, 54, will be sentenced on Sept. 21.

Spann pleaded to guilty on one felony count for taking actions affecting a financial interest. The maximum penalty for this charge is five-years, but the recommended punishment is zero to six-months.

Spann acknowledged at her Friday plea hearing that she had begun steering OPM "information-technology contracts" to companies controlled by Spann and husband in 2011 without disclosing the extent of their relationship.

Spann is married to Thomas Spann. Her husband is a co-founder and the CEO of a company called

Enlightened Inc.

Court records reveal that he also worked at another company, LogApps.

Documents show that Sheron Spang signed the articles of incorporation for Enlightened in Maryland and Washington, 1997.

According to a court filing, Sheron Spang used her government email to suggest to a representative of the OPM contracting offices that OPM invite Enlightened bid on a project for developing software to manage background checks for federal employees and contractors.

The court filing stated that Enlightened was awarded the contract with a funding cap of $4.5million. Sheron Spang served as OPM’s point-of-contact on the deal.

The filing states that the contract's funding exceeded the initial ceiling of $25 million.

The filing stated that Enlightened was awarded a $1.5M contract by OPM in April 2017, without the need to compete against other bidders.

According to the filing, five months later, OPM awarded Enlightened a second contract, which earned the company over $7.35 millions.

The filing stated that "S. Spann, while overseeing OPM contracts with Enlightened at the time, was also receiving a financial benefit personally from Enlightened via an intermediary company Enlightened used as one of their contractors, Tier 1 LLC."

Enlightened LLC paid Tier 1 LLC almost $736,000 between March 2012 and April 2017.

Documents show that Enlightened funds were used to pay three lenders for "payments to accounts that benefit both S. Spann (and T. Spann), including an American Express Account, and vehicle payments".

Sheron's attorney did not respond immediately to a comment request.

CNBC also contacted Enlightened to get their comments.