Veteran sentenced to 3 years in prison for defrauding Navy out of more than $9 million
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WASHINGTON - A Navy veteran was sentenced on Sept. 22 to 36 months in federal prison for defrauding the Navy out of more than $9 million through a fraudulent bid-rigging and contract steering scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DOJ said the scheme involved paying kickbacks and other benefits to a co-conspirator who was a Navy insider at the time.
Veteran sentenced to 3 years for defrauding Navy
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Cory Taylor Wright, 49, of Columbus, Georgia, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr., who also ordered him to pay $9,128,515 in restitution. Wright pleaded guilty in September 2025 to one count of wire fraud.
Cory Taylor Wright, a former Navy servicemember, was sentenced Sept. 22 to 36 months in federal prison for a scheme that defrauded the Navy of more than $9 million (Credit: J. David Ake/Getty Images)
"This was not an isolated lapse in judgment or a fraud of limited duration," prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum. "[Wright] repeatedly participated in deceptive conduct designed to undermine a competitive federal procurement process."
Wright was enlisted in Navy for 20 years
The backstory:
According to his plea agreement, Wright was enlisted in the Navy from February 1997 until his retirement in May 2017.
At various points from 2005 to 2017, Wright worked for the Navy’s Mobile Utilities Support Equipment division (MUSE), located at the naval base in Port Hueneme in Ventura County.
When Wright neared retirement in late 2016, he and Juan Carlos Aragon, 48, agreed to create a Georgia-based company, C&C Power Solutions LLC (CCP).
Aragon was a fellow Navy enlistee who retired from the Navy in 2021 and held various positions at MUSE, including supervisory positions that allowed him to exercise influence over naval contracts. The scheme lasted from December 2016 to August 2022.
According to the DOJ, Wright and Aragon created CCP with the understanding that Aragon would become a 50% partner after retiring from the Navy. Aragon promised to help CCP obtain Navy contracts. In return, Wright paid him thousands of dollars in kickbacks and provided other benefits, including payments to a sporting club Aragon operated.
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Aragon also arranged for CCP to receive payments for products and services it had not provided. Wright and Aragon later rigged bids to help CCP win subcontracts, the DOJ explained.
The agency said Wright submitted false invoices claiming that CCP had completed work for MUSE. The prime contractor used that information in invoices to the Navy, which then issued payments.
Beginning in September 2017, Wright and Aragon worked to make CCP MUSE’s next prime contractor. They created fraudulent documents, including a fake past-performance questionnaire, and concealed Aragon’s role and financial interest in the company. The Navy awarded CCP the contract in July 2019. Wright continued submitting false documents and invoices until the Navy terminated three of the company’s task orders in late 2022 and early 2023.
Aragon pleaded guilty on April 21 to one count of bribery of a public official. Judge Blumenfeld sentenced him on August 25 to 12 months and one day in federal prison and ordered him to pay $97,960 in restitution.
The Source: The information for this story was provided by the U.S. Department of Justice. This story was reported from Los Angeles.