PHILADELPHIA — The owner of an Illinois masonry company has been charged in regards to a bribery case related to restoration of Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, becoming the fourth person charged in the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced on Friday, March 28, that Mark Snedden, 69, of Munster, Ind., owner of MARK 1 Restoration, has been charged with conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and making and presenting a false claim.
The Attorney’s Office alleges that Snedden and three MARK 1 employees — Donald Seefeldt, Lee Maniatis, and Khalid Dallo — provided an Amtrak employee with gifts valued at more than $300,000. The news site Philly Voice reports those gifts included a trip to India, an $11,000 watch, a purebred puppy, and more than $5,000 in training for that dog. The other three employees have previously been charged [see “Contractor on Amtrak Philadelphia station project …,” Trains News Wire, March 6, 2024]. The Amtrak employee has previously been identified as Ajith Bhaskaran, who died in October 2020.
In return, Bhaskaran provided the company with internal information about the project, and used his position to approve more than $52 million in changes to the company’s contract. He and MARK 1 officials also falsely inflated costs of some of the work, leading to more than $2 million in overbilling.
If convicted, Snedden would face a maximum of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $500,000 fine.
Apparently this happened several years ago. And the $2 million in overcharges by themselves were probably the least of the motivation for this bribery. I’d love to see the entire audit to see how much MARK 1 actually netted for whatever work they did. In any event, it’s obviously not just Amtrak where these scams go on, it’s the entire construction industry, but it’s painful to see it happen with public money.
The $500,000 fine is not enough. He should have to repay every penny he stole plus interest.
Agree. wholeheartedly…
I have to ask. If “Munster” Mark hadn’t given the bribe would he have gotten the job? Would ANYONE gotten it without a bribe?