Local Naval Contractor Named in Federal Kickback Case Closes Doors, Lays Off All Employees

(ASFT) reportedly announced in a company-wide "all hands" e-mail to employees on Monday that the company would close all of its operations as of noon on Monday, Feb. 14.

The shut-down results in the lay-off of more than 100 employees at the Middletown branch.

The e-mail announcement issued on Monday was distributed by ASFT Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Wayne M. King and forwarded to Patch by an anonymous source. The announcement stated that company officials had met Sunday and determined that due to company assets frozen by the federal government, the company could not continue to operate.

The Middletown defense contractor has been at the center of a federal criminal case allegedly involving a kickback scheme totaling about $10 million. The U.S. Justice Department has charged Anjan Dutta-Gupta, 58, of Roswell, GA, its founder and president, and Ralph Mariano, 52, of Arlington, VA, a civilian program manager and senior systems engineer with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Newport.

The company's website at www.asft.net was no longer active on Monday morning.

Employees who answered calls at the company's Middletown branch and its headquarters in Roswell, GA, declined comment and referred all calls to the company's attorney Bryan B. Lavine of the firm Trautman Sanders in Atlanta.

The company-wide email also stated that a volunteer support transition team had been assembled to assist laid off employees.

ASFT, a provider of technical support and engineering services for various industries that includes submarine combat control systems, is based in Roswell, GA, with offices in Middletown at the , as well as in Washington D.C.

Patch will continue to follow this story as it develops.