National Aeronautics and Space Administration<br />Office of Inspector General<br />Washington, DC 20546<br /><br /><br />June 19, 2003<br /><br /><br />RELEASE 2003-040: CALIFORNIA MAN SENTENCED FOR FRAUD SCHEMES <br /><br /><br /> On June 3, 2003, Aleksandr Drabkin appeared in Federal District Court <br />in Los Angeles, California and was sentenced for his participation in <br />multiple schemes to defraud interstate companies located in California, <br />New Jersey, Colorado, and Massachusetts. After pleading guilty to <br />Conspiracy and Mail Fraud, Drabkin was sentenced to a prison term of <br />33 months, to be followed by a supervised release period of 3 years.<br /> <br />>From April 2000 to December 2000, Drabkin and others participated in <br />schemes to defraud companies engaged in the manufacturing of precious <br />metal products. Drabkin impersonated employees of NASA and DOD <br />contractors to fraudulently take delivery of the precious metals.<br /><br /><br />Special Agents of the NASA Office of Inspector General, the Defense <br />Criminal Investigative Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, <br />and Detectives of the Pasadena and Bell Police Departments in <br />California conducted this investigation. Assistant United States <br />Attorneys Daniel A. Saunders, Central District of California, Los <br />Angeles, and Jean Kempthorne, District of Massachusetts, Boston, <br />handled the prosecution.<br /> <br />For more information on this release, please call Joe Kroener, Acting <br />Executive Officer, NASA Office of Inspector General at (202) 358-2558.<br /><br /><br />Previous Releases: <br />2002-035, 01/08/02, Remaining Three Suspects Arrested and Indicted for <br />Involvement in Nationwide Fraud Schemes.<br />2001-023, 01/05/01, 4 Individuals Arrested for Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud<br />2001-097, 09/17/01, California Man Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud<br /><br /><br /> *** End ***<br />Please do not contact NASA Office of Public Affairs for information on<br />Office of Inspector General releases.<br /><br /><br />For additional information on the NASA Office of Inspector General,<br />including published reviews, audit reports, inspection/assessment reports,<br />press releases, and other publications, please access our web site at:<br />http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq<br /><br /><br />Report Crime, Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement to the NASA OIG<br />Hotline at: 800-424-9183, TDD 800-535-8134.