Akron Federal Court

A Virginia architect agreed Tuesday to a prison term for his role in helping his firm get contracts with the VA through illicit means.

(File photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- A Virginia architect convicted of conspiring with the former head of the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center admitted Tuesday to using inside information to gain contracts from the VA.

Mark Farmer will spend 21 months to six years in prison under the terms of a post-jury-conviction deal with prosecutors. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors agreed to seek no new charges against Farmer.

Under the deal, Farmer admitted that he knew about $3.9 million in illicit deals gained by using inside information from William Montague, the former head of the Cleveland VA who later became director of the Dayton VA Medical Center.

Other high-ranking officials within Farmer's former company, Cannon Design, used inside information from Montague that would have resulted in up to $20 million in projects, the agreement says.

"High-ranking officials at Cannon Design knew about and approved of the payments to Montague and received confidential documents and information that Montague provided from the VA," the agreement says.

No one else from Cannon Design has been charged.

A Sept. 28 letter between prosecutors and Farmer's defense team helped lay the groundwork for the agreement. The letter had to do with investigators gathering more documents and issuing more subpoenas to other Cannon Design employees, Assistant United States Attorney Antoinette Bacon said during Tuesday's hearing.

U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi ordered that letter sealed from the public at the attorneys' request.

Farmer, 55, was convicted in August of conspiracy, racketeering, embezzlement, bribery, theft of public money, mail fraud and wire fraud. He'll remain in federal custody until he's sentenced March 29.

The agreement calls for Farmer to forfeit $70,801 in ill-gained money. He also faces fines between $10,000 and $250,000.

The scheme occurred during a four-year period from 2010 to 2013. Montague, of Brecksville, resigned from the Dayton VA in 2011 to run the consulting firm House of Montague.

Montague admitted during Farmer's trial that he sent along confidential information so Cannon Design could have an advantage when submitting bids on upcoming projects.

Cannon Design then used the confidential information to prepare proposals that resulted in the company being chosen to design a veterans' hospital in West Los Angeles, California.

Farmer and Cannon Design used Montague as a "double agent" because of his access, particularly in 2011 when he served as an interim director at the VA in Dayton.

Farmer's primary role at the firm was to get VA projects across the country. He was the firm's man contact with Montague and paid Montague's firm for insider information.

Montague, 64, pleaded guilty in September 2014. The deal states that he could spend as little as 4 1/2 years in federal prison in exchange for his cooperation. He has yet to be sentenced.

Farmer's deal also stipulates that prosecutors wanted to make a deal for Farmer since there was a "significant unwarranted sentencing disparity" between Farmer's and Montague's expected sentences.

Prosecutors wrote there was a lack of evidence of the scope of the deals at the time Montague entered his guilty plea.