USC employee indicted on public corruption charges

A University of South Carolina employee has been indicted on public corruption charges, S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson said Tuesday.

The indictment alleges Blake Langland, a 48-year-old project manager in USC’s College of Engineering and Computing, unlawfully diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars of public university money to himself and his private business interests.

Langland, a USC employee since 2004, double-dipped into a pot of federal grant dollars, routing $650,000 to himself and his business by billing USC twice for work that he and other state employees completed on the taxpayers’ dime, the indictment alleges.

Langland faces one count of using his official position or office for financial gain, three counts of receiving anything of value to influence a public employee and one count of accepting rebates or extra compensation.

Langland was suspended without pay Tuesday from USC, school spokesman Jeff Stensland said. “The university has cooperated fully with the Attorney General Office’s investigation of this matter.”

Langland would not comment when reached Tuesday by The State.

The state grand jury handed down the indictment June 21, but it was not announced until Tuesday.

Langland’s full-time USC job entailed working on a multi-year grant bankrolled by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, according to the indictment. But Langland also was a part owner of a subcontractor to USC in that grant, a Columbia-based start-up called SysEDA Inc., according to the indictment.

About May 2014, the state grand jury says, Langland began routing USC grant money through SysEDA to his own business, Design Information Technology Inc.

Langland sent USC invoices from SysEDA for “consultant” services performed by Design Information Technology, the indictment alleges.

But that work was being completed by Langland and his USC employees and students, most of it at USC offices and on USC computers during normal business hours, the indictment says.

“Through these mechanisms, Langland was essentially able to ‘double dip’ and pad his full-time salary by charging USC via SysEDA invoices for work that he and others were already being paid as a state employee to do,” the indictment says.

Langland also billed USC through SysEDA for time those employees spent working on a product that was “completely separate from the USC grant project, and from which USC did not benefit at all,” the indictment alleges.

This story was originally published July 18, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "USC employee indicted on public corruption charges."