SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4) –A Utah County man was sentenced to probation Thursday after he pleaded guilty to being involved in a fraud scheme to obtain $99 million in contracts from the government.

Utahn Michael Tingey was one of three charged for being involved in a fraudulent scheme to take money from the government. Tingey, CEO of Odyssey International, Whitney Mcbride, owner of Odyssey, and Kin Shing Paul lee, former Chief Financial Officer of Odyssey, were all charged in Federal Court with Wire Fraud.

According to court documents, the object of their alleged scheme was to obtain contracts from the government, equaling $99 million, that were set aside for qualified businesses in historically underutilized business zones (HUB).

Odyssey International, where Tingey was CEO, did not meet the qualifications to obtain the contracts from the government. However, through fraudulent reporting of the business, including omission of office locations, paying non-employees to meet the required percentage of employees, and submitting incorrect residences of employees — Odyssey allegedly obtained contracts as if it was a HUB zone-qualified business, the court documents stated.

Tingey also allegedly assisted in a fraudulent wire transfer of $59 million from the U.S. Treasury to a bank account for Odyssey International Inc. in the state of Utah, according to court documents. He was also listed as a co-conspirator in several other wire fraud incidents.

Tingey, along with the others, was charged by the court to forfeit any money or property involved in the wire fraud, including almost $8 million, which was spread across seven different bank accounts.

Tingey was listed as a co-conspirator in the wire fraud scheme to which he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced thursday to two years of probation for his involvement. Tingey was not fined, however, Odyssey International Inc. was fined $5 million.

The other alleged conspirators were sentenced in the last few months. Mcbride was sentenced in November 2022, to 30 months in Federal Prison, and 36 months of supervised release. And Lee was sentenced in January to 12 months in Federal Prison, and 24 months of supervised release.