Business & Tech

Ex-CEO Surrenders to FBI

Derish Wolff, 76, faces charges of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government.

The former president and CEO of the Morris Township-based surrendered to the FBI Thursday morning, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

Derish Wolff, 76, of Bernardsville and Miami, faces a six-count indictment alleging he was the leader of a scheme to intentionally overbill the U.S. government by hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly 20 years. The indictment includes five counts of making false claims in connection with billings and one count of conspiring to defraud the United States Agency for International Development.

The conspiracy charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while each of the false claims counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. An additional fine of up to $250,000 for each of the six counts could also be addded.

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Wolff was president and CEO of the Louis Berger Group from 1982 to 2002 and later became chairman of the Louis Berger Group's parent company, Berger Group Holdings, Inc. The billings he is alledged to have padded included hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for reconstruction work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“The Indictment alleges that during decades at the helm of a company entrusted with the rebuilding of battle-scarred nations, Derish Wolff focused on profits over progress,” U.S. Attorney Fishman said. “Wolff allegedly used his position to lead others in the scheme, setting targets that could be reached only through fraud." 

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“Today’s arrest of Derish Wolff represents personal accountability for allegedly defrauding the U.S. government out of millions of dollars,” said Michael B. Ward, Special Agent In Charge of the Newark Division of the FBI. “According to the Indictment, by instructing his company to pad costs involving foreign reconstruction efforts at falsely inflated rates, he attempted to enrich himself at taxpayer expense.”

“Such schemes, perpetrated by dishonest contractors and individuals, erode public confidence and deny full support to the mission of our brave men and women serving in the military services," said Edward T. Bradley, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. 

Salvatore Pepe, the firm's former chief financial officer, and Precy Pellettieri, the former controller, who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government. We also profiled


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