Three senior Naval intelligence officials are being investigated by federal authorities for their alleged role in a plot to charge the government $1.6 million for $8,000 in homemade weapons silencers, according to a report by Craig Whitlock with the Washington Post.
The officials, all civilians, allegedly arranged for a California mechanic to make $8,000 in unmarked and untraceable weapons silencers and then billed the government for more than 200 times the cost of manufacture.
The only person charged so far in the case is the mechanic, Mark Landersman, who is thought to be the brother of one of the officials.
Mark Landersman commissioned a machinist who used to work for him to build the functioning silencers, based off of blueprints he provided, the report states. He told the man they were mufflers, then allegedly sold the 349 silencers to the
After the alleged scam, the recently bankrupt mechanic went on a spending spree:
He bought stock shares in a microbrewery for $100,000, a restored 1988 Porsche 911 for $49,084, an off-road racing vehicle for $15,000, a Ford Ranger for $40,000, a red 2013 Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck for $59,294 and a $5,760 welder.
This story is just the latest in a string of scandal and