Ex-Army colonel negotiated job with defense contractor that had business with his office

A retired Army colonel has pleaded guilty to negotiating his post-military employment with a helicopter company that did business with the Defense Department office he managed.

A plea agreement filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alabama says Norbert Vergez caused the terms of a contract to be adjusted so that the company would be paid faster. Vergez also failed to disclose that he had received a $30,000 check from a second company for relocation expenses.

The companies are not named in the records. But the documents describe MD Helicopters in Mesa, Arizona, and Patriarch Partners, a private equity firm in New York. Both companies are owned by Wall Street executive Lynn Tilton.

Vergez, 49, went to work for Tilton three months after retiring from military service in November 2012.