On March 17, 2005, Jeff Alex Mazon, a former employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), and Ali Hijazi, the managing partner of Kuwaiti company LaNouvelle General Trading and Contracting Company, were indicted on charges of devising a scheme to defraud the United States of more than $3.5 million related to the awarding of a subcontract to LaNouvelle to supply fuel tankers for military operations in Kuwait. The indictment alleged that on or about February 2, 2003, Mazon, a negotiator for subcontractors, solicited bids by e-mail from potential subcontractors. The cost of the subcontract was estimated by KBR at $685,080. The indictment alleged that Mazon inflated the bid he received from Hijazi to ensure that LaNouvelle would be overpaid. In March 2009, after two trials ended with deadlocked juries, the U.S. Justice Department withdrew all fraud charges against Mazon and instead accepted a misdemeanor plea agreement under which Mazon pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of making a false written statement.