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Michael Montenes, age 61, of St. James, pleaded guilty to bribery charges in federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday, May 3.
Montenes is the owner of Hauppauge-based M.S. Hi-Tech, Incorporated, a distributor of electronic components.
According to the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District, between December 2017 and December 2020 Montenes paid a Procurement Officer employed at the Department of Energy (DOE) in Virginia approximately $18,800.
The money served as a bribe to persuade the officer, now named as a co-conspirator in the case - to enter into contracts with Montenes’ business worth $969,000 for electrical components that were supplied to a DOE laboratory.
Montenes reportedly mailed the payments, which ranged from $500 to $7,200, from Long Island to the officer in Virginia.
According to investigators, some of the electronic components sold to DOE failed and caused a fire in July 2021, resulting in approximately $1.8 million in needed repairs and other costs.
“Like the faulty components that he bribed a government official to purchase and caused damage to a Department of Energy laboratory, Montenes’s scheme has gone down in flames and he must now face the consequences for his crime,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.
“This Office will continue to root out corruption that undermines the integrity of competitive bidding in the procurement process.”
In court Wednesday, Montenes pleaded guilty to bribing a federal official. He now faces up to 15 years in prison when he’s sentenced at a later date.
As part of his guilty plea, he also agreed to forfeit approximately $969,000 and to pay DOE more than $1.8 million in restitution.
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