A federal jury Wednesday convicted two Bay Area men of conspiring to defraud the United States and commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a plot to rig bids for the construction of a building at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Clifton Burch, 50, of San Lorenzo, and Peter McKean, 50, of San Mateo, were found guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after a two-week trial in front of District Judge Charles Breyer. The two were convicted for their role in what the court said was the submission of “fraudulent and non-competitive bids” for the renovation of Building 84 at facility.
Burch and McKean were found to have participated in a scheme in which, in exchange for submitting false bids for the project, they would receive work as a subcontractor and project manager on the construction after a developer’s bid had been accepted. However, the developer in the scheme was a federal undercover agent working to expose bid-rigging in the awarding of federal construction contracts.
The judge set a June 19 hearing for the sentencing of Burch and McKean. Each man faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for defrauding the federal government, and up to 20 years in prison and an additional $250,000 in fines for the mail and wire fraud convictions.
