[JURIST] Reuters is reporting that US authorities have indicted an ex-employee of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root [corporate website] for defrauding the government of $3.5 million.

2:32 PM ET – An Illinois grand jury has laid charges against former KBR employee Jeff Alex Mazon as well as Ali Hijazi, who was the managing partner for a Kuwaiti subcontractor. The criminal charges are the first to laid in connection with Halliburton dealings with the US military in the Middle East. Mazon, arrested in Georgia Wednesday, is alleged to inflated subcontractor bids for fuel tankers to be used by the US military in Kuwait and to have taken kickbacks on contracts awarded. The Houston Chronicle (Halliburton is headquartered in Houston) has more.