Washington, DC, February 10, 2026 — The US Department of Justice announced that the president of a metal fabrication and manufacturing company has pleaded guilty to participating in a multi-year bid-rigging conspiracy affecting maintenance, repair, and operations contracts for US military installations.
Thomas C. Rollins, of Wilmington, North Carolina, entered a guilty plea on February 5 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. According to court documents, Rollins conspired between at least 2015 and 2022 with other individuals and companies to rig bids for contracts administered by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).
Bid-Rigging Conduct
The procurements were awarded to subcontractors through a competitive bidding process. Rollins and his co-conspirators agreed in advance which company would submit the lowest bid and coordinated the submission of so-called “comp” or “cover” bids to create the appearance of competition.
In his plea agreement, Rollins admitted that the volume of commerce attributable to him and related to the conspiracy was approximately $8.47 million.
“For seven years, this defendant deliberately chose to cheat instead of compete, harming the Department of War and the American people in the process,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division and its partners in the Procurement Collusion Strike Force are laser focused on detecting and prosecuting those who seek to tilt the scales in their favor at the expense of American taxpayers and warfighters.”
Christopher Dillard, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service’s Mid-Atlantic Field Office, added: “When individuals conspire to rig bids and eliminate fair competition, they erode taxpayer trust and jeopardize the readiness of our armed forces. Today’s outcome makes clear that this conduct will not be tolerated.”
Rollins pleaded guilty to one felony count of restraining trade by conspiring to rig bids, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. The maximum penalty for individuals convicted under Section 1 is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine.
A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. A federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The case was investigated by the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service and prosecuted by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal Section as part of the Justice Department’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force, which targets antitrust crimes affecting public procurement at federal, state and local levels.
Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/executive-pleads-guilty-multi-million-dollar-bid-rigging-conspiracy
