Government Contracts Monitor

Short Take: As Mother Told You – Don’t Ever Tell A Lie (Especially To A Federal Investigator)

August 18, 2015

Brian P. Hearing, 43, of Falls Church, Virginia – a former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) official – pleaded guilty last week to making false statements to federal investigators regarding his financial interest in a private company.

According to the plea agreement, Hearing worked at NGA from 2011 to 2015 in its Innovision Directorate, an applied science and technology research group and, during that time,  he co-founded a private company for the purpose of developing and commercializing an automated detection system.  What’s wrong with that?  Well, Hearing inappropriately used his position with the NGA to promote his company.

What’s more, when questioned by federal agents about his involvement with the company, Hearing lied to conceal his conflict of interest. For example, Hearing falsely claimed that another individual was the sole founder of the company and denied having any connection to the company when, in fact, he co-founded and shared equally in its ownership. 

If you are interested in reading the plea agreement, just click on this link http://www.justice.gov/opa/file/705761/download.