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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (94877)	3/8/2002 5:26:45 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Army duped into paying for porn-site costs Reuters March 07, 2002 05:49:00 NEWARK, N.J. - A computer specialist was charged Thursday with operating a sex show Web site on a high-speed line which he got the U.S. army to pay for by telling them it was used for communicating with forces in Bosnia. Gilbert Benjamin, 49, was arrested at his Neptune, N.J., home by special agents of the Army Criminal Investigation Division and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. A 68-count indictment charges him with mail and wire fraud and submitting false claims with the intention of defrauding the government, said assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Guadagno. The indictment alleges Benjamin charged the Army more than $100,000 for the cost of running the T-1 Internet line between 1997 and 1998, telling officials at the Fort Monmouth, N.J., Army base it was needed to back up the base's communications with U.S. military forces in Bosnia. Instead, Benjamin was using the line to operate an adult entertainment Web site called Blue Sky whose paid subscribers could participate in two-way video hook-ups including live sex shows, Guadagno said. In a second ploy, Benjamin allegedly ordered computers and computer parts claiming they were needed for Army-related activities. But he used them for his venture then resold them to an electronics company owned by his brother in Berlin, New Hampshire. The total loss to the government is estimated at more than $300,000, Guadagno said. Benjamin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and $250,000 fine on each count. azcentral.com