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Black Prime Contractor Refused to be Reduced to a
“Front”
Special Investigative Report, Part #2
By Maynard Eaton
Atlanta GA.
Printed in the Atlanta Voice
The
Henry Thomas saga continues to resonate among the nation’s black
business leaders who laud his enduring fight for economic justice.
Thomas is the 50 year-old owner of a Bronx-based enterprise called
Freedom N.Y., Inc. who refused to settle for being a minority
business “front”. Thomas has waged an 18-year-long legal battle with
the Defense Logistics Agency for his just due compensation as a
victimized contractor.
This is the second installment of the Thomas story, a continuation
of our first report entitled
Black
Contractor Sues U.S., on 12/12/2004 in the Atlanta Voice (AV).
Our investigation revealed that Freedom NY paid a very heavy price
for refusing to become another “FRONT” for a ring of notorious
political muscle men, shaking down minority businesses for control
of their companies. The rings methods included setting up contract
road blocks to keep minority businesses in distressed economic
positions, then removing the road blocks when they receive stock in
the company. The rings subversive activities became publicly known
after it was revealed that they controlled Wedtech, another Bronx
defense contractor.
The penalty for Freedom’s refusal to be a “front” was to be forced
and submerged into the Department of Defense’s administrative legal
system in an effort to cover up the Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA)
New York office’s involvement that had, knowingly or unknowingly
supported the slicks and politicians, in using Wedtech as a
“front”. The payment official at DLA, Marvin Liebman, knowingly or
through blatant stupidity, was in effect aiding the slicks and
politicians who were unofficially controlling Wedtech in their
criminal activity of shaking-down these and other victims.
His tale of woe amounts to a scandalous story of suffering that has
been the largely untold predicament of countless black-owned
government contractors. This probe is aimed at answering why Freedom
NY and other blacks have systematically been eliminated from the
Halliburton, Boeing and Lockheed level of defense planned producers
where billions in “no bid” contract dollars are being spent. Here
is how Freedom NY got removed from that exclusive club of Industrial
Planned Producers.
In 1983 Freedom NY was named by Secretary of Defense Casper
Weinberger’s office as one of three Meals Ready to Eat (MRE)
Industrial Planned Producers to be maintained, as mobilization based
Prime contractors in the event of war, under the special set aside
program of
10USC 2304 (c)(3) and Defense Acquisition Regulation
3-216 and
FAR 6.302-3(a)(2)(i).
.As a prime contractor under this special program, Freedom
negotiated “no bid” contracts in the interest of national defense,
and was to be maintained for war mobilization with contracts during
peacetime. Peacetime contracts also known as warm base contracts,
allowed Freedom and the other two contractors in the program to be
“kept available” and ready with hi speed production for a 90 day
ramp up response for combat troop supplies, in the event war was
declared. These are the same type of “no bid contracts” that
Halliburton has in Iraq today.
In 1984 a start up
$17 million dollar warm base MRE Prime contract “in the interest
of national defense”, was negotiated and awarded to Freedom. This
contract included
profits of $2.2 million the first year. This high level Pentagon
designation as a ‘Industrial Planned Producer’ with ‘no bid
contracts’ and high profits, caught the eyes of those in control of
Wedtech and made Freedom N.Y., Inc. a target to become another
“front.”
Freedom immediately moved its food production operations to a
200,000 sq. ft. USDA plant in Hunts Point, Bronx, N.Y., to produce
over 7 million MRE’s. Freedom then had to fight off the slicks and
politicians of Wedtech, who started demanding no show jobs and 10 %
of company stock in return for approving the lease on the N.Y.C
owned 200,000 sq. ft. plant in Hunts Point.
When Freedom refused to participate in such activity, the Wedtech
ring blocked Freedom and made sure that the lease for the Hunts
Point Building was not approved by the City of New York. Freedom
had to move from the facility and with the help of the Pentagon
moved its operations to a privately owned 400,000 sq. ft. plant on
Bronxdale Ave in the Bronx. Freedom had also entertained relocating
to production facilities in San Antonio, Texas and Mobile, AL. The
Department of Defense’s office in Texas approved a San Antonio Texas
facility for Freedom’s production in 1984, but Thomas, a native of
Alabama, and President of Freedom stuck with the Bronxdale Ave
facility in the Bronx.
After getting this new location and building, without the help or
under the control of the Wedtech ring, stock in the company and no
show jobs were again demanded. Major General Ehrlich of the Rainbow
division of the Army National Guard and a member of the Wedtech ring
was making these demands. This time, the Wedtech ring that had first
set up road blocks on the Hunts Point building, was now running
interference by setting up a new road block at the New York
payment office of the Defense Logistics Agency. Major General
Ehrlich an attorney, was telling the New York payment officers,
while in his two star military uniform and out ranking the office
commander, that he was one of Freedoms attorneys. That he was
secretly negotiating with the U.S. Attorneys office trying to get
Freedom off an impending Federal indictment. He said that Freedom
had done something wrong, including using strong armed congressional
pressure and payoffs to get its contract. Ehrlich also convinced
the DLA that any money paid to Freedom under the contract, would
surely be lost and that the payment office should hold up or slow
down all payments to Freedom until he (Ehrlich) informs them
otherwise.
This story caused the Bronx Overall Economic Development Office and
the New York defense payment office to be looking over their
shoulders for the U.S. Attorney to show up with indictments and for
Freedom executives to be hauled off to jail. On the other hand and
at the same time, Major General Ehrlich was telling Freedom, that
the payment officer was an idiot and stickler for using and applying
incorrect contract regulations to hold up payments. The solution was
for Freedom to give his law firm 10% of its stock in return he would
have the entire past contract payments freed up by the
Administrative Contracting Officer (ACO) Marvin Liebman and all
future contract payments would be paid to Freedom just as fast as
Wedtechs payments were being paid to them. Freedom again refused.
Instead of paying Freedom on the terms of
the contract,
Liebman requested his government attorney to investigate the award
and its payment terms, hoping to get some legal cover for his
non payment actions. Records show that
his government lawyer confirmed to him in writing that the contract
and its payment terms was properly awarded. In a meeting, in
which Thomas attended he told Liebman to make the contract payments
in accordance with the contracts cash flow sheets without any
further delay.
In spite of this legal contract confirmation from his own government
lawyer, Liebman ignored the contracts cash flow spread sheets, and
started delaying and using unnecessary and unauthorized contract
audits. He used and enforced contract regulations and procedures
not included in Freedoms contract to freeze all contract payments.
The record show that Thomas issued a stern warning notice to ACO
Liebman of his contract breach actions and the damaging effects they
would have on the contract. Six months later, in 1985, when no
indictments came from the U.S. Attorneys office, Liebman was forced
to release Freedoms first payment of over $1.7 million dollars in
overdue payments, and DLA was by then facing a large $3 million
dollar claim from Freedom for contract cost delays and overruns.
Liebman was not giving up on his belief or in collusion with
Ehrlich, continued to insist that Freedom did something wrong to get
the contract and requested the FBI to look into Freedoms contract
and its financing. Liebman believing and hoping that the FBI would
soon find something wrong, continued to freeze all payments for
three additional months.
Records show that in 1985, the FBI did in fact open a file on
Freedom, but soon closed it after talking to Freedom’s bank in
Chicago without telling ACO Liebman.
Thomas seeing that ACO Liebman apparently lacked the requisite
financing skills, and was seemingly incompetent as a small business
ACO,
went to DLA HQ in Washington D.C. to get ACO Liebman
removed from the contract. Freedoms strongly written complaints of
Liebman’s bungling of the contract fell on deaf ears as DLA refused
to remove Liebman claiming he was doing his job.
High level DLA officials in Washington DC seeing all the contract
delays and fearing that the delays could impact our nations ability
to mobilize and respond with MRE’s in the event of war, brought in a
fourth MRE contractor, Cinpac of Ohio.
Freedom sued in New York Federal Court case # 86-1363 before
Chief Judge Constance Baker Motley claiming that Cinpac was not
qualified for an MRE award. DLA was informed by the
US Department of Labor that Cinpac was not qualified for award of
the MRE contract. DLA withheld this Department of Labor ruling
from Freedom and Chief Judge Motley and allowed the contract to be
awarded. If this vital information had been made known to the Court,
Chief Judge Motley would have stopped this unlawful award to Cinpac,
and would not have allowed Cinpac to replace and take Freedoms’
position in the special MRE program. “DLA by its silence had now
obstructed justice and allowed FRAUD to exist and prevail in the
procurement system”, said
Thomas. Six months later, the Asst U.S. Attorney told Thomas, that
he did not know of the ruling at the time. He did nothing to correct
it before the court.
Freedoms claims had risen to over $5 million in contract cost
delays by 1986.
Freedom filed its $5 million dollar claim for delay costs with the
DLA. Liebman seeing this $5 million dollar claim panicked and
initiated action to negotiate a settlement by releasing to Freedom
the money that he was withholding and should have given earlier in
the contract but with no offer to increase the contract price for
the delays. In order to have obtained additional funds from DLA to
cover his contract mistakes,
Liebman would have to tell his superiors at DLA, of his contract
errors and admit, that the delays and cost increases were in fact
his fault. Instead of confessing Liebman insisted that Freedom
absorb and eat the $5 million in claims. Freedom refused to accept
responsibility for the delays and refused all offers from him that
did not include being made financially whole and being awarded
follow on MRE contracts, as Freedom’s number 3 position and status
in the MRE program had been given to Cinpac of Ohio.
Freedom’s $5 million dollar claim was then referred to DLA HQ in
Washington D.C for resolution where high level meetings were held,
promises were made and a deal called MOD 25 was signed.
Later that year in 1986, when U.S. Attorney Rudy Guiliani’s
investigators showed up at ACO Liebman’s New York office they were
looking for his contract payment records on Wedtech and Major
General Bernie Ehrlich’s involvement. Liebman was surprised and
again panicked now knowing that he had wrongfully to date caused
over $5.5 million in contract cost overruns on Freedoms contract
while thinking that Freedom was the subject and target of the
investigation. In an attempt to cover-up and hide his contract
mistakes, Liebman started to shutdown and abandon the Freedom
contract.
Liebman
swept Freedom into the contract legal system, where Freedom got lost
over time, inside the maze of legal maneuvers and government
contract counterclaims. Knowingly or unknowingly, Liebman had
allowed Ehrlich to use him and his payment office, to assist in
creating and maintaining Wedtech as a “minority business front” for
the Wedtech ring. Ehrlich had used Liebman to set up contract
payment roadblocks for Freedom when they were putting another
“shake-down” attempt on Freedom to make Thomas another “front” for
the Wedtech ring. The shakedown attempt failed as Thomas refused to
budge but by this time Liebman’s nonpayment actions had caused
Freedom and its MRE contract to be in financial shambles.
The records on file at the ASBCA also show that in late October of
1986, the ACO once again froze all contract moneys and began to
liquidate and collect at 100% on all previous payments. This
wrongful action caused a domino effect which forced Freedoms massive
400,000 sq. ft. USDA approved MRE combat ration plant to shut down.
Freedom, which was almost finished producing under the contract, was
forced to layoff over 442 trained South Bronx employees, who had
produced and the government had accepted over 6.2 million of the 7.5
million MRE combat rations and over 500,000 cases for our nation’s
front line combat troops.
The New York Daily News, investigating Wedtech, ran a story on the
“shake down” attempt of Freedom, at the Hunts Point plant in
the Bronx N.Y. The then mayor of NYC, Ed Koch, had to defend his
actions of what he did when he received a letter from Freedom on the
“shake down” of company stock, in return for a New York City owned
building.
The records show that ACO Liebman then started to remove government
furnished materials and strip the Freedom plant of its production
equipment while the contract was still in place and Freedom was
still required to deliver under the contract. There was nothing
Freedom could do to stop him.
While Liebman in New York was stripping Freedoms plant, and removing
materials and equipment, in late 1986 Freedom complained to DLA in
Washington who did a useless investigation called the Holland Report
which was contaminated and undermined by the Wedtech story virus.
The report praised ACO Liebman. The Holland team did nothing to
stop Liebman’s illegal contract actions. Liebman claimed it was
being done ‘in the interest of the government. At the same time he
was demanding that Freedom give him a new delivery schedule to
complete the MRE contract on time. Liebman refused to pay Freedom
any of the required government contract money, demanding that
Freedom use its own money to complete the contract. Thomas said that
if Freedom refused to complete the contract using its own money,
Liebman would terminate the contract for default and blame
everything on Freedom, which is just what he did.
The records show that eight months later, after the plant was
cleaned out by Liebman, and with the contract still existing,
Freedoms remaining production equipment and assets were auctioned
off. Some of the equipment was sold to Freedoms replacement in the
MRE program, Cinpac of Ohio.
Records on file show that Liebman attended Freedom’s plant and
equipment auction and watched as Cinpac of Ohio, purchased Freedom’s
production equipment and other items. In purchasing Freedom’s
equipment, Cinpac was put in a position to be qualified for award of
the MRE contracts, which they already had been awarded, but now by
using Freedoms equipment and subcontractors to qualify.
Once Cinpac was qualified Liebman terminated Freedoms
contract for default for failure to deliver. This action transferred
the defaulted contract to the Armed Services Board of Contracts
Appeals (ASBCA) if Freedom wanted to protest his actions. Freedom
has been stuck in administrative litigation for 18 years. Freedom is
today in 2005, still carrying and financing over $6 million in
contract costs that are unpaid.
“In other words the $6 million still due to be paid means that
Freedom had paid for and actually fed our nations front line troops,
not the U.S. Government”, said Thomas. “That’s right a Black
contractor had to at its own expense, feed our nations troops with
its own money and it has not been paid by our government, as DLA had
refused to pay for the cost of the MRE’s that were delivered,
accepted and eaten by the troops.”
The resulting ripple effect of this nonpayment of $6 million dollars
in costs to Freedom means that Freedom has not repaid its bank for
the $6 million it borrowed. The bank has suspended all loans to
Freedom and to other black businesses as the minority revolving loan
account had no more funds to lend. This was the economic ripple
effect of the ACO’s nonpayment action to Freedom and the bank.
Thomas said that early in the contract ACO Liebman told the bank
“not to loan any money to Freedom as he was not going to pay Freedom
under the contract.” When the bank loaned Freedom the money for its
equipment and production, it allowed Freedom to produce MRE’s and
prove the ACO’s nonpayment actions as being wrong, as Freedom
delivered MRE’s without using the contracted for government money.
The ACO’s actions in shutting down Freedoms operations, and not
paying under the contract, left the bank high and dry with Thomas
personally on the hook for the loaned and borrowed money.
“Liebman did not do this alone” said Thomas. “Liebman had the help
of some rogue lawyers in DLA who knew how to twist the facts to hide
his actions and bury Freedom in the ASBCA legal system for over 18
years.”
Freedom as a Black owned business was destroyed as the ACO made sure
that Freedom, had lost the local investments of Dollar Saving Bank’s
$2 million dollars in economic development startup funds, $3.5
million dollars in production loans from Bankers of Chicago, and $3
million dollars from other investors and creditors, totaling over
$8.5 million dollars in investment losses for the MRE economic
development project in the South Bronx of New York.
Freedom as a business went into an 18 year coma, while its President
and Guarantor, Thomas sprung into action to document and show the
effects of DLA’s contract breaches. As a direct result, Freedom was
denied an equal opportunity to perform and participate in the MRE
planned producer program. Thomas and Kevin Seraaj, Freedom’s V.P of
Contracts, filed an appeal and a $21 million dollar damages claim at
the Armed Services Board of Contracts Appeals. (ASBCA)
“The ASBCA is really designed to protect the interests of the
government and its contracting officials, not the contractors. The
ASBCA starts with the premise that the government’s Administrative
Contracting Officer (ACO) is always right and whatever he does is to
protect the government. They believe his actions, whether right or
wrong, were done only in good faith and were not done to hurt the
contractor or done in bad faith.” said Thomas while on a recent trip
to Baldwin County, Alabama where he was invited to look for a new
500,000 square foot plant to resume Freedoms operations.
Thomas said that if one looked at the record they would find many
instances of things that were done in bad faith. They would find
that the ACO used a course of oppressive conduct that did in fact
hurt the contractor. Thomas said that ACO Liebman also showed his
lack of skills and incompetence as an ACO in court when he testified
on the stand about administrative contract matters, trying to
convince the court he was an expert on the subject.
When the Judge asked him in more detail and showed him the correct
contract clauses, he was made to stand corrected on his “expert”
testimony at least 7 times. The record shows Liebman saying “I stand
corrected, I stand corrected”, and had to change his testimony at
the ASBCA hearings. Even with Liebman’s actions causing the
destruction of Freedom as a business with investment losses of over
$8.5 million dollars, and the ASBCA’s finding 15 years later in
2001, that Liebman and his lack of skills had caused over 26
different breaches of the Freedom contract, the ASBCA ruled that
what the ACO did, in mismanaging the contract, was done in the best
interest of the government and that Freedom should not be
compensated for its losses or for being destroyed and losing its
position and status as a MRE planned producer in the Industrial
Preparedness Program. Even with the ASBCA knowing that it was, “the
intent of the parties” and “a meeting of the minds”, at the time of
contracting, to “maintain Freedom as one of three Prime Contractors
in the event of war”, they refuse to acknowledge these basic facts
in determining contract damages to Freedom.
The other two MRE Prime Contractors who were named by the Secretary
of Defense along with Freedom in 1983 were Sopacko of South Carolina
and Right A Way Foods a/k/a Wornick Company of Texas, who have been
maintained in the MRE program by DLA, and have grown over the years,
with ‘no bid contracts. Each had over $233 million in contracts from
DLA in 2003. The company who bought Cinpac of Ohio had over $150
million in DLA contracts in 2003. These three companies have split
over $4 billion dollars in MRE “no bid” Prime contracts over the
last 18 years while Freedom has been kept economically locked, by
DLA, in the ASBCA’s legal system, said Thomas.
Records on file at the ASBCA show in letters to
Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney in 1989,
that Thomas describes DLA’s refusal to follow the instructions of
the Office of the Secretary of Defense “to maintain Freedom as a
planned producer in the MRE program” as “rebellion in the ranks” of
the Department of Defense. Thomas also described his contract ordeal
within DLA as a “contract lynching”.
In a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2001, the DLA
ordeal was described as a “Rodney King style administrative contract
beating”. Vice President Chaney did not investigate these charges of
racial discrimination at the time he was the Secretary of Defense
and left it in the hands of DLA for resolution.
What does this all mean? It means that General Ehrlich a Wedtech
member, who outranked everyone, easily conned the New York office
with an untrue story in order to drive Liebman’s payment actions so
he could shake down Freedom for stock. ACO Liebman then used the
Wedtech story to support his nonpayment actions, against Freedom to
his superiors, during the contract. The story wormed its way through
the Department of Defense like a virus. The story contents were used
in 1987 to unofficially and off the record deny Freedom relief by a
DLA fact finding team called the Holland Report.
Our investigation found the infected contents of the Wedtech story
are still being promoted in discussions in a web site at
http://www.wifcon.com/discus/messages/6/61.html?1073878958
between government officials and a Holland Report team member trying
to lay the blame on Freedom, today, some18 years later.
The web site’s discussion goes on to say that
Thomas “was not in the group and particularly “of the
wrong complexion”” and “just didn’t stand a chance”.
“This was “just taking care of our own” and not seen
as corrupt at all”. One government official further tries to justify
that Freedom had pin holes in its product. The records on file at
the ASBCA clearly shows that it was Cinpac of Ohio’s plant that had
the pin holes and had to recall all its product, not Freedom, but
the government official is still trying to unfairly smear Freedom
anyway. Another one of the participants stated “If memory serves an
8a MRE contract was terminated for many of the same reasons around
1980.. is it possible this happened twice?”.
Well to answer his unanswered web site question, our investigation
found that this did in fact happen twice. The other black company
“of the wrong complexion” was American Pouch Foods of Chicago (APF)
who was also terminated from the MRE program and lost over 600 jobs
in 1980.
Where is it going? Freedoms 18 year old fight to prove it did
nothing wrong under its contract, has been won and proven within two
ASBCA decisions. The 1996 ASBCA decision, determined that Freedoms
contract was wrongfully terminated for default in 1986, (10 years
earlier). The second ASBCA’s decision in 2001 stated that “it could
not find anything that Freedom did wrong in the contract during that
period” but found that ACO Liebman himself breached Freedoms
contract over 26 different times. The ASBCA in awarding Freedom over
$10 million in costs and interest firmly established total
government liability for the destruction of Freedom.
The fight is now about being made financially whole. The issues are
about losses and damages, said Thomas.
Thomas said that the ASBCA is nothing more than a Department of
Defense “washing machine” which is trying to “white wash” Liebman’s
wrongful breach actions in order to limit the amount of payment of
damages that has to be paid to Freedom, said Thomas. “The case must
be transferred to a real Federal court, in the interest of justice,
as a conflict of interest has arisen and is clearly in existence in
this case at the ASBCA”.
Thomas had also requested the ASBCA to grant contract relief in the
form of “specific performance” which would force the DLA to issue
another contract to Freedom with the same terms and conditions, but
this time the contract must be administered, financed, paid and
performed, by DLA, as written and agreed to by the parties. Thomas
said that the ASBCA has told him in a decision that it does not have
the “authority under the contract to grant specific performance or
to reinstate” Freedom as a Prime MRE contractor or to put Freedom
back into the MRE Industrial Preparedness Program even though it had
found that Freedom had done nothing wrong to be out of the program.
In our first story, Attorney Bruce Luchansky said “that the ASBCA
had bifurcated the cases and started to decide them backwards”.
That’s because the base line terms of the contract as agreed to by
the parties in 1984 was finally determined as facts in 2001, 17
years later. All earlier discussions, settlements and decisions were
carried out under a cloud of disputed contract terms with ACO
Leibman refusing to take any blame for his conduct and pointed the
finger at Freedom.
“This kind of legal mismanagement by the ASBCA kept Freedom at a
disadvantage during the settlement talks on its claims” said Thomas.
“It took 17 years in delayed court actions to determine that it was
the government’s fault. By awarding and giving Freedom back its own
money in 2001, when it was taken from Freedom in 1986. This is the
same as giving a person back its own blood in 2001, when it was
taken from them in 1986, but who died 17 years ago for lack of
having their own blood. “The insulting part,” he continues, “is to
hear the ASBCA say that although the payment of $5 million dollars
of costs is 17 years late, Freedom has no rights to damages and
cannot claim any damages. This is totally unfair and unequal
treatment”, said Thomas.
The ASBCA has also told Thomas in a recent letter that it will not
correct a clearly wrong misinterpretation and misreading of the
ASBCA’s finding of facts, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit. The ASBCA’s finding of facts in this case became
final and conclusive and is therefore binding, on the Federal
Circuit. But Thomas may have caught the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit cheating Freedom in a decision by changing and
rearranging the sequence of facts in order to come to a different
conclusion of law. “Freedom was outright robbed and mugged by the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit” said Thomas. Thomas
then requested the ASBCA judges to correct the higher Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit as to the correct record of events.
The ASBCA Judges said that they were not asked by the Federal
Circuit to correct or clarify any of their finding of facts.
As a result, of the ASBCA not correcting the Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit, and the conflict of interest on awarding
contract damages to Freedom, Thomas has requested the ASBCA to
recuse itself from the case and transfer its case to the U.S. Court
of Federal Claims where no conflict will exist. Thomas says he has
“no confidence in the ASBCA” and will then go to another Federal
court to have it correct the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit.
The record also shows that during the ASBCA trial in the year 2000,
ACO Liebman was asked about his dealing with Wedtech. His response
in refusing to answer in court was that the defense criminal
investigation unit of the Department of Defense told him not to ever
talk about Wedtech, and that he cannot and will not talk about
Wedtech, pursuant to their instructions.
In 1988, U.S. Attorney Rudy Guiliani, convicted and jailed General
Ehrlich and others for creating and using Wedtech as a minority
“FRONT” to get millions of dollars in defense contracts. Little did
he know that a key government player, ACO Liebman, was left in place
inside the DLA payment office.
Here in the year 2005, Thomas charges DLA with knowing that the
government has already paid over $4.9 million in late interest
payments for ACO Liebman’s breaches of not making payment’s when
due, has once again allowed ACO Liebman, “to interfere, freeze and
not pay an overdue mandatory payment of over $400,000 to Freedom.”.
“The ACO is still abusing his power of payment and is retaliating
with the help of some ‘rogue’ lawyers that know how to cover up and
block congressional oversight and tie up the investigative hands of
congress. What they do is to wrongfully default someone, then throw
them into unnecessary and bogus litigation, which will force
Congressmen and Senators to step back and do nothing to help the
company while the bogus litigation is going on. Then in time alone
through countless counterclaims and court delays, the companies are
buried in litigation for so long, that congressional support and
interest is lost over the years. Thus, even when the government is
wrong, they will always win over time. This is the new way of
“economically lynching Black companies.” Thomas said.
In researching this story, this reporter went to the Office of the
ASBCA to review the records on file and read the investigative story
of “Feeding the Beast - How WEDTECH Became The Most Corrupt
Little Company in America” by Marilyn Thompson, who in 1986 was
a reporter with the New York Daily News and is now with the
Washington Post. We also reviewed the ABC 20/20 investigative report
on WEDTECH, by Tom Jarrell, “A License to Steal”. Both stories
featured and spotlighted Freedom’s President, Henry Thomas, as
refusing to become a “FRONT” for the Wedtech ring, but neither
followed up on the plight and cover-up at DLA.
This will be a continuing series of stories about the injustice done
to Black contractors such as American Pouch Foods (APF), Chicago
Ill; Fresh Flavor Meals, Tacoma WA; Tisdale Foods of Seattle, WA and
Univox of California. All these black owned companies, and probably
countless others, have horrible stories to tell of their businesses
being economically destroyed while being contractors, within the
Department of Defense.
By Maynard Eaton
Special Investigative Reporter
Atlanta, GA
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