Bowling Green business owner Fejzuleh “Fuji” Avdic was sentenced to 14 months in prison and fined $15,000 Monday for his part in a kickback scheme that prosecutors said enriched his business by millions.

Avdic, 32, and Bridgett Burris, 49, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a count of honest services fraud.

Federal prosecutors said that Avdic, the owner of trucking company Stryker Logistics, agreed to pay Burris $200 for each shipment awarded to Stryker by Burris’s employer, aluminum manufacturer Constellium.

According to federal court documents, the scheme was hatched during a 2017 lunch meeting and continued into 2019, with Avdic paying Burris a total of $750,800 and Stryker receiving more than $14 million in contracts from Constellium.

After sentencing Avdic, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Greg Stivers imposed a sentence of one year and one day against Burris.

Constellium was identified as the victim in the case, but company representatives did not provide documentation specifying their financial losses as a result of the scheme.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Sewell said during Avdic’s sentencing hearing that he and his company experienced about $3 million in financial gains over the course of the plan with Burris, and Avdic’s income rose by several hundred thousand dollars from 2016 to 2018.

In 2017, 70% of Stryker’s business was done with Constellium, Sewell said.

“The real losers were all the trucking companies who didn’t get to compete on a level playing field,” Sewell said in court. “They were denied the opportunity to take part in the bidding process.”

Addressing the court Monday, Avdic expressed remorse, saying his parents were not in the courtroom with him because he was too ashamed to ask them be there.

“I can’t believe I put myself in this embarrassing situation,” Avdic said in court. “My family) are the ones most devastated by my decisions. The thought of going to prison, even for a day, is very terrifying for me.”

Avdic’s attorney, Alan Simpson, asked that his client be placed on probation and either be assessed a fine or community service.

Simpson said that Avdic took responsibility for his actions, telling Stivers that Avdic said to him that he wanted to make things right during their first meeting.

“To say that I was impressed with him is probably an understatement,” Simpson said. “He’s been beyond cooperative … he’s a great human being and incarceration would not serve any purpose. He has been sick about this for three years. To say he is remorseful doesn’t even begin to capture it.”

In addition to employing about 75 people through his business, Avdic has contributed tens of thousands in charitable donations to several organizations and also takes care of sheep, cattle and alpacas on a small farm, Simpson said.

According to a court filing, Avdic immigrated with his family from Bosnia to the U.S. when he was 7, and he worked as an emergency room technician at The Medical Center before starting his own company.

Stivers said the amount of money involved in the scheme affected his decision to incarcerate both defendants.

“The scale of these kickbacks is significant,” Stivers said during Avdic’s sentencing hearing. “This was a systematic, corrupt scheme. If this was a much smaller amount, it would change everything, but the fact that it’s so much money dictates in my view that Mr. Avdic has to go to prison.”

Sewell said that while each co-defendant alleged the other first proposed the scheme, evidence suggests Avdic asked Burris to take part and he realized a greater financial gain, making him more culpable.

Burris’ attorney, David Broderick, said the criminal case “turned her world upside down,” with the FBI seizing her bank account and two cars.

After her time at Constellium ended, Burris moved to Florida and is working a retail job there.

“Ultimately, the last three years has been somewhat of a sentence already,” Burris said when addressing the court. “There’s no greater remorse than putting your family through the uncertainty that you might not be there for them.”

According to a court filing, Burris met with Avdic in 2019 and told him which of his bids were too high or too low, and she also looked the other way as non-expedited shipments were billed at expedited rates.

Stivers said that by accepting the kickbacks, Burris was “stabbing her employer in the back.”