It might seem improper on the surface for a Navy intelligence director to divert nearly $2 million in government funds to his boss' brother in the form of a secret, no-bid contract to build hundreds of untraceable rifle silencers, but in the convoluted world of classified military contracts it makes perfect sense, defense lawyers argued Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema heard closing arguments Wednesday in the trial of Navy civilian Lee Hall of Sterling, who is accused of conspiracy and theft of government funds for pushing just such a contract into the hands of race-car mechanic Mark Landersman of Temecula, California, the brother of Hall's boss.
Prosecutors argued that Hall and the Landersmans concocted the contract, and hid details about it from their colleagues, as a way to bail out Mark Landersman, who had recently filed for bankruptcy.
The 349 silencers that Landersman built were "unwanted, unneeded and ineffective," prosecutor Patricia Haynes said in her closing argument. "He rammed this deal through, and taxpayers are out nearly $2 million for suppressors that are basically scrap metal."
Specifically, prosecutors allege that Hall and his boss in the Navy secretariat, David Landersman, tricked budget officers into awarding them $2 million in unspent funds at the end of the fiscal year in 2012 to run several intelligence-related studies. Within days of getting the money, they said, they quietly reallocated the money to the silencer contract, which paid $1.6 million to Mark Landersman to build the silencers, even though his costs were only in the range of $10,000.
As it turned out, Haynes said, the suppressors didn't even work, and in some cases amplified the flash and the sound emanating from the rifles in test conditions.
But Hall's defense lawyer, Danny Onorato, said Hall had good reason to believe that he was on solid ground in pursuing the contract. Hall himself was not a contracting officer, and he had been told by the people who were experts in classified military contracts that it was sometimes necessary to "play make believe" to get the deals processed.
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Throughout the three-day trial, it was never exactly clear why Hall said he wanted the silencers. Evidence in the trial remains classified, and in open court, witnesses and lawyers were coached only to speak of "The Program," an unspecified operation that apparently had a need for rifle silencers that couldn't be traced. Prosecutors concede the program existed and had a legitimate need for silencers, but dispute that the silencers built by Landersman were intended to fill that need.
At one point, Hall had told others that the silencers were needed for the Navy's elite Seal Team Six, which killed Osama bin Laden. But the Seals said they had never asked for the silencers.
Onorato said the classified nature of the program meant that Hall couldn't just buy silencers on the open market that would have federal serial numbers and instead needed specially manufactured ones like those produced by Landersman.
The defense also presented testimony that Hall and David Landersman did not turn to Mark Landersman out of nowhere. Mark Landersman had been working on a similar silencer several years prior and had been in discussions with Navy officials to build them, but the deal fell through.
Brinkema is expected to issue her verdict later this week. Throughout the prosecution, she has at times expressed frustration with the government's case. She has issued sanctions against the government for failing to turn over evidence that could be helpful to the defense in a timely manner.
Mark Landersman goes on trial on Monday. David Landersman has not been charged.
