A Navy veteran has been charged with defrauding the U.S. Navy of more than $9 million through a scheme involving bid-rigging, contract steering, and false billing, according to an announcement from the Justice Department.
Cory Taylor Wright, 49, of Columbus, Georgia, faces a single count of wire fraud. In a related court filing, Wright agreed to plead guilty to the felony charge and cooperate with federal prosecutors. The offense carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Wright is expected to formally enter his guilty plea in the coming weeks.
According to court documents and Wright’s plea agreement, he served in the Navy from February 1997 until his retirement in May 2017. From 2005 to 2017, he worked for the Mobile Utilities Support Equipment division (Muse) at Port Hueneme naval base in Ventura County. Muse manages technical and logistics support for power systems used by Department of Defense operations worldwide.
The investigation found that as Wright approached retirement in late 2016, he partnered with another Navy enlistee—identified as “Co-Conspirator 1”—to form C&C Power Solutions LLC (CCP), based in Georgia. Co-Conspirator 1 held supervisory roles at Muse and retired from the Navy in 2021. The scheme ran from December 2016 through August 2022.
Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 allegedly agreed that once Co-Conspirator 1 retired from the Navy, he would become a half-owner of CCP. In exchange for directing contracts toward CCP—including task orders via a prime contractor—Wright paid him thousands of dollars in kickbacks and other benefits such as payments to a sporting club operated by Co-Conspirator 1.
Initial funding for CCP was secured when Co-Conspirator 1 arranged for payments from contractors for products and services that CCP did not actually provide. Once operational, they engaged in bid-rigging by submitting fake bids with inflated costs to ensure CCP won subcontracts—for example, on a $790,496 task order in 2017.
Wright also submitted fraudulent invoices claiming work had been completed when it had not. These invoices led prime contractors to submit false claims to the Navy for payment.
Beginning September 2017, Wright and Co-Conspirator 1 sought to make CCP Muse’s next prime contractor—a role worth tens of millions of dollars—by generating bogus documents including a fake past performance questionnaire. They concealed Co-Conspirator 1’s financial interest and involvement during the bidding process.
From July 2019 until early 2023—when three task orders were terminated—Wright continued submitting false documents seeking payment for unperformed work. The total loss to the Navy is estimated at approximately $9.13 million.
The case is being investigated by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service and Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Assistant United States Attorneys Ian V. Yanniello (Terrorism and Export Crimes Section) and Thomas F. Rybarczyk (Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section) are prosecuting the case.
“The Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are investigating this matter.”
“Assistant United States Attorneys Ian V. Yanniello of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section and Thomas F. Rybarczyk of the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section are prosecuting this case.”
