The former owner and president of a Virginia-based defense contracting company pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Thursday to taking part in a scheme to bribe a San Diego-based Navy civilian employee in exchange for his help in securing millions of dollars in government contracts. Philip Flor es, 53, admitted providing gifts including expensive meals and tickets to major sporting events to James Soriano, who worked at the Naval Information Warfare Center in San Diego as a contracting officer’s representative. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the cost of the tickets — which included the 2019 Super Bowl and a 2018 World Series game — totaled more than $18,000. Soriano, who has also pleaded guilty to federal charges, in turn helped Flores’ company, Intellipeak Solutions Inc., obtain government contracts. The government paid Intellipeak over $16 million for work on around two dozen government contracts and task orders, and the scheme helped the company make a profit of between $550,000 and $1.5 million, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Flores is slated to be sentenced in June. Soriano, who awaits sentencing, also previously pleaded guilty to accepting gifts from another defense contractor, Cambridge International Systems Inc. Cambridge and its former executive vice president Russell Thurston have also pleaded guilty. ...read more read less