Florida: Guilty Plea by Contractors

By C. J. CHIVERS

Two former employees of A.E.Y. Inc., a military contracting firm in Miami Beach, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the government. David Packouz, 27, a former vice president, and Alex Podrizki, also 27, a company agent who worked in Albania, admitted to deceiving the government about the origins of repackaged Chinese rifle cartridges sold to the United States Army for Afghanistan’s police and Army.

A.E.Y., which provided arms, munitions and equipment to foreign governments and American agencies, was barred last year from doing further business with the United States. Judge Joan A. Lenard of Federal District Court in Miami set sentencing for Sept. 28. The company’s president, Efraim Diveroli, and a business associate, Ralph Merrill, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.