Owner of Three Construction Companies Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Defraud a Customer of More Than

Owner of Three Construction Companies Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Defraud a Customer of More Than $1.7 Million


Greenbelt, Maryland – Ivan Victor Thrane, age 65, of Dickerson, Maryland, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud a company of more than $1.7 million.

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur and Special Agent in Charge Jennifer C. Boone of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to his plea agreement, Thrane was the owner and president of three construction companies operating in Dickerson and Beltsville, Maryland (“the Thrane companies”). Thrane admitted that between August 2015 and January 2017, he conspired with the project manager at Victim Company 1, to defraud Victim Company 1 by submitting fraudulent payment requests for work purportedly performed by the Thrane companies. In fact, the Thrane companies had not performed all of the work indicated on the payment requests and, in some cases, had not performed any work on projects for which Thrane was requesting payment.

Specifically, Thrane and his co-conspirator, among other things, caused the Thrane companies to submit payment requests to Victim Company 1. The co-conspirator prepared the payment requests, which he e-mailed to Thrane. Thrane, or another individual at Thrane’s request, signed the payment requests on behalf of the Thrane companies. Thrane then e-mailed the signed payment requests to the co-conspirator, who, as Victim Company 1’s project manager and project executive, approved the payment requests, causing Victim Company 1 to pay the Thrane companies. Once payment was received from Victim Company 1, Thrane funneled a portion of those payments to his co-conspirator, typically by writing checks from his personal bank account or from the Thrane companies.

Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/owner-three-construction-companies-pleads-guilty-scheme-defraud-customer-more-17-million