A Chula Vista man who is a Navy contractor was fined $1,000 Nov. 17 and placed on three years probation for a conflict of interest charge with a port engineer who improperly loaned him $32,000.
No jail time was imposed for Alfonso Liburd, 68, by U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino in San Diego. The prosecutor did not seek anything more than the $1,000 fine and probation for Liburd, who is a lay minister.
Liburd is president and chief executive of NevWest, an Otay Mesa business which does a variety of jobs on Navy ships such as electronics installation, repairs, improving communication systems, and hardware.
The business which employs 22 people was founded in 2010.
Liburd’s attorney, Marc Carlos, filed court papers that say Liburd borrowed the money from a friend, John Nasshan, 55, so his business could make payroll. The problem was that Nasshan’s job was to administer projects at the Navy’s Southwest Regional Maintenance Center and he drafted technical direction letters in which he recommended which contractors were qualified.
Nasshan didn’t benefit from loaning Liburd the money, but he lost his job and was debarred from working on future Navy contracts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Nasshan pleaded guilty to conflict of interest and Sammartino gave him the same sentence she gave to Liburd, a $1,000 fine and three years probation.
Both could have received five years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine. Liburd pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a conflict of interest. The U.S. Attorney’s office said Liburd lied to agents from the Defense Criminal Investigation Service in 2015 when he denied receiving money from Nasshan, who structured the loan by dividing some of it up into amounts less than $10,000.
Liburd was a Navy veteran of 22 years, serving in Vietnam and later in Operation Desert Storm, his attorney wrote.
