United States v. Stanley N. Howell, Warren S. Cochran, Cochran & Howell, a Partnership, Post Cleaners, Thrifty Cleaners

Appellees Howell and Cochran, operating the firms of Cochran and Howell, Post Cleaners, and Thrifty Cleaners, obtained and held Concessionaire Agreements with the Bay Area Exchange, which the Government alleges to be an integral part of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, an agency of the United States.

Under the said Concessionaire Agreements, appellees were granted the privilege of performing the cleaning, pressing, tailoring and laundering of wearing apparel at military installations of the United States and, in return for such privilege, agreed to pay to the Bay Area Exchange a specified percentage of their gross receipts from said operations.

It is alleged in the complaint that Howell and Cochran knowingly and wilfully submitted false statements and records of their gross receipts to the Bay Area Exchange by substantially understating the amounts of their gross receipts ; that they directed their employees to conceal the true amount of said gross receipts; and that they paid less commissions to the Exchange than were actually due, thereby causing a financial loss to the Exchange.

It is further alleged that Howell and Cochran, in the year 1949, entered into a…