The owner of several companies in the construction industry was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $1.75 million fine for his role in a long-running scheme to defraud the United States.
Following a six-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in June 2022, a jury convicted Michael Angelo Padron of conspiracy to defraud the United States and wire fraud for his role in obtaining valuable government contracts under programs administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). The evidence showed that Padron conspired with others to install a service-disabled veteran as the ostensible owner of a general construction company held out as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). Padron, along with his business partners, exercised disqualifying financial and operational control over the construction company. According to court documents, the…