BURLINGTON — A 69-year-old Florida man has received three years of probation after admitting to accepting more than $2.5 million in kickbacks and bribes for construction projects on federal buildings including the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction.

U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford in Burlington on Friday sentenced Bhaskar Patel to probation and issued a $2.5 million judgment against him, according to court records. Patel previously pleaded guilty to counts of violating the federal Anti-Kickback Act and accepting bribes for a program receiving federal funds between 2011 and 2016, while he was employed with France-based Schneider Electric.

In his decision, Crawford granted a motion from Patel’s attorney, David Haas, in which Haas requested the judge issue a sentence below the typical guidelines for a bribery or kickback offense. Prosecutors did not object to Haas’s request.

In the motion and sentencing memorandum, Haas wrote that Patel, given his age, has little risk of re-offending and is in poor health.

“Without diligent medical care, made all the more difficult in the age of coronavirus, Mr. Patel’s life expectancy and prognosis has a very poor outlook,” Haas wrote. He added that Patel, whose prior history includes one DUI conviction in 2005, has sold his home and is living with his son in New York in order to use all his money to pay back the government.

On top of the argument regarding Patel’s health, Haas put some of the blame on Schneider Electric, saying Patel was an honest employee before he joined the company. He also said that Patel’s superiors had told him to do whatever he could to obtain bids and boost profit.

In an email Friday afternoon, Venancio Figeuroa III, a spokesman for Schneider Electric, denied any wrongdoing.

“Schneider Electric employs a set of principles of responsibility and a stringent code of conduct to ensure we conduct business ethically,” he wrote.

Owen Foster, a federal prosecutor in Vermont, wrote in the prosecution’s sentencing memorandum that a case like this would ordinarily warrant prison time.

“However, given Patel’s health issues and in light of his heightened risks if exposed to COVID-19, the government recognizes that the Court may want to impose a delayed reporting date and/or give additional weight to his health risks,” Foster wrote.

Along with the sentencing memorandum, Patel’s attorney submitted seven letters from Patel’s friends and family, describing him as a loving father and a hard worker, who spent much of his time caring for his sick wife before her death in 2017.

“If you were to ask me what type of guy my dad is, I would tell you he is a rare and special person,” Patel’s son, Jaimeen Patel wrote in a letter of support. “I would not want anyone in his condition to be sent away, because should that happen, I fear I may never see him again.”

Friday’s decision stems from a period of time between 2011 and 2016 when Patel was working as a senior project manager at Schneider Electric. As part of his job, Patel analyzed and awarded contracts to subcontractors who were interested in working on federal facilities across the country.

Over the course of five years, Patel took kickbacks or bribes from eight different subcontractors, totaling over $2.5 million, in exchange for awarding them federal contracts, according to a sentencing memorandum from prosecutors.

The crime was uncovered when a Vermont subcontractor, who has not been identified, submitted a bid for work at the Department of Veterans Affairs, White River Junction, Vermont Medical Center. Patel chose a different subcontractor for the project and altered or falsified the losing subcontractor’s bid to justify his choice, according to a news release from federal prosecutors.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.