A Kansas construction executive was sentenced to prison for a “rent-a-vet” and “rent-a-minority” scheme he used to win hundreds of government contracts worth a combined $346 million intended for minority- or veteran-owned small businesses for which he was not qualified.
On Jan. 5, U.S. District Court Judge Roseann Ketchmark sentenced 45-year-old Matthew C. McPherson, of Olathe, Kansas, to two years and four months in federal prison without parole. McPherson also forfeited more than $5.5 million, his share of the proceeds of the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced. The sentencing followed McPherson’s 2019 guilty plea to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and major program fraud.