Houston Business Owner Pleads Guilty to $840,000 Fraud Scheme

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the owner of a Houston, Texas business pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in an $840,000 scheme to defraud J.E. Dunn Construction Company.

Brian A. Newkirk, 49, of Houston, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to one count of wire fraud.

Co-defendant John L. Kirwin, 46, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was employed by J.E. Dunn Construction Company as an internal recruiter from August 2013 through April 13, 2016. His duties included finding qualified candidates for job vacancies. Kirwin worked with outside employment recruitment agencies to locate and employ J.E. Dunn personnel for construction projects across the country. If the recruit was actually hired, J.E. Dunn paid a fee to the outside employment recruitment agencies.

Kirwin hired three firms, including Search Group International (owned by Newkirk) and two firms owned by co-defendant Debi K. Jordan, 53, of Tulsa, Okla. – Recruitegist and Sourcegist – to locate suitable employees for J.E. Dunn. Kirwin was salaried and did not receive commission for recruiting new employees; his employment contract prohibited him from receiving any benefits from outside vendors.

Beginning shortly after his employment in 2013, Kirwin operated a scheme in which he received kickbacks from Newkirk and Jordan by submitting fraudulent invoices to J.E. Dunn. The invoices from Newkirk and Jordan included highly inflated amounts or they referenced employees never hired by J.E. Dunn. When J.E. Dunn paid the recruitment companies, they divided the proceeds from the fraudulent invoices with Kirwin.

Kirwin has pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. Jordan has pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud.

The government believes the loss amount to J.E. Dunn was approximately $840,000. Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Newkirk must forfeit to the government any proceeds he received from the fraud scheme. The government believes the money judgment should be for $182,165.

Under federal statutes, Newkirk is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker. It was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Office of Inspector General.