A Chicago-area contractor is charged with conspiracy to commit federal program bribery as part of a scheme to ply an Amtrak official with gifts totaling at least $325,000 in exchange for $52 million in change orders that nearly doubled the cost of the firm's contract for its part in renovating the historic 30th Street train station in Philadelphia. 

According to a lawsuit filed March 27 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia against Mark Snedden, 69, owner of Mark 1 Restoration, Dolton, Ill., he provided the official with such gifts as jewelry, cash, overseas trips, lavish dinners, limo rentals, an $11,000 watch and a purebred German Shepherd puppy.

The company was hired under a $58-million contract in 2015 to clean the limestone facade and restore windows at the Art Deco-style station that opened in 1933, with federal funding supplying about 90% of the money Amtrak used to pay the firm for the repair and restoration work.

Snedden is set to be arraigned on April 30 on the federal bribery charge and another charge of making and presenting a false claim, related to his company’s contract that soared to over $100 million in cost, a federal lawsuit says. 

Others involved in the alleged scheme include Donald Seefeldt, Lee Maniatis and Khaled Dallo, all identified as Mark 1 vice presidents in the lawsuit. Each has pleaded guilty to one count of federal program bribery, and will be individually scheduled for sentencing in May and June. 

The contract between Amtrak and Mark 1 prohibited the contractor from offering any employee, agent or rail carrier "representative" any cash, gift, entertainment, commission or kickback to secure favorable treatment related to award or performance of any contract or agreement, according to an Amtrak statement.  

Between 2016 and 2019, the lawsuit states that Seefeldt, Maniatis and Dallo, with Snedden’s knowledge and encouragement, provided the gifts to a project manager identified only as "Employee #1" in the lawsuit. Various instances of gifts being given and change orders then being granted are noted in the lawsuit.   

Employee #1 has been widely identified in news reports as Ajith Bhaskaran, a program manager for Amtrak’s major capital construction division. He was indicted in September 2020 in a separate case on multiple counts of wire fraud for allegedly defrauding the Social Security Administration of $252,604. Bhaskaran was awaiting trial on that case when he died at home in October 2020 of natural causes. 

"$ ding"

Snedden allegedly sent a text message in December 2016 to Seefeldt approving the purchase of a $5,600 Tourneau watch for Employee #1, which was given to the Amtrak official at a dinner in January. Two days later, a change order requested by Mark 1 was approved and Maniatis forwarded a text message to Snedden noting “$ ding.” 

Later that month, Employee #1 notified Maniatis that he wanted another more expensive watch. In May 2017, Maniatis returned the original watch and purchased another for approximately $11,294 and gave it to Employee #1. 

In November 2017, Maniatis paid $4,700 for a German Shepherd dog for Employee #1, and, according to the lawsuit, Employee #1 shortly thereafter authorized $5.7 million in expenditures for the facade project, the lawsuit states. 

Employee #1 and Mark 1 officials also falsely inflated the true costs of some work to be performed by the contractor under the change orders, causing Amtrak to be substantially overbilled by over $2 million for the project, the carrier said. 

Dennis Culloton, a spokesperson for Mark 1, said in an email that Snedden “has accepted full responsibility for this matter," connected to the 30^th Street Station project. “From the moment this investigation surfaced in November 2019, Mark 1 and its employees, including Mr. Snedden, have provided extensive cooperation to the government’s investigation, and will continue to do so.”

Mark 1's work at the station concluded in 2020. A large-scale redevelopment of 30th Street Station—which is Amtrak's third-busiest U.S. station—is underway, according to the rail carrier.

Clark Carpenter, a public affairs officer for Amtrak's Office of Inspector General (OIG), said he could not confirm how the alleged bribery scheme was discovered, but noted that the OIG operates a hotline for reporting fraud and crimes. 

On its website, Mark 1 lists numerous projects around the country including state capitol buildings in Minnesota, Wyoming and Oklahoma and others, as well as the Wrigley building and Old Post Office in Chicago. 

If found guilty, Snedden faces up to 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.