[Washington Post] Del Quentin Wilber and Maria Glod - Stewart D. Nozette, accused of giving sensitive government information to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer, is an astronomer who once sketched a key part of a lunar mission on the back of a cocktail napkin and daydreamed of colonizing the moon. And, according to recently unsealed court documents, he stole lots of government money to finance personal credit cards, mortgages, car loans and maintenance on his swimming pool. Federal prosecutors said in court papers unsealed Friday that Nozette's aerospace consulting firm ACT over-billed the government by $265,000 from 2000 through 2006. His wife, Wendy McColough, is identified as "co-conspirator 1" in court papers. In January, Nozette pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion. But the case was sealed by a federal judge because the scientist was providing information about unrelated investigations of government corruption, prosecutors said. Nozette told a colleague that he would flee to India or Israel if the U.S. government "tried to put him in jail," according to law enforcement officials and court records.
2009-10-28 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive