Yorba Linda Man Pleads Guilty to Bilking US Army of $320K

The owner of a Gardena machining company pleaded guilty Tuesday to evading taxes and violating his contract with the U.S. Army to overhaul parts used on Apache helicopters.

Bahram Bordbar, 62, owner of Prototype Engineering and Manufacturing Inc., entered his plea to a federal tax charge and one count of making false statements involving aircraft.

The Yorba Linda resident admitted that his fraudulent conduct led to him improperly pocketing about $320,000 from the Army, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prototype had a contract to overhaul and repair linear actuators that were used on the Army's AH-64-A Apache helicopter. The company was not authorized to repair DC motors used in the linear actuators unless the company received specific authorization from the Army, according to the government.

According to the plea agreement, Prototype used an outside contractor to repair 105 DC motors when those repairs had not been approved by the military. The repaired motors were installed into overhauled linear actuators which were delivered to the Army.

Bordbar also pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting in the filing of a false tax return.

Bordbar paid an employee $100,000, but told the employee the money was a gift and that he would pay the taxes, which prompted the employee not to report the money as income on a federal tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Bordbar has agreed to pay the Internal Revenue Service more than $28,000 to pay the employee's back taxes, according to the plea deal.