USAID official, 3 execs plead guilty in bribery scheme with over $550 million in contracts

[noumoe]

USAID official, 3 execs plead guilty in bribery scheme with over $550 million in contracts

A United States Agency of International Development (USAID) official as well as three corporate executives have pleaded guilty in a decades-long bribery scheme connected to over $550 million in contracts.


According to a press release from the Department of Justice, four men pleaded guilty to the charges of being part of the bribery scheme. The USAID official in the case was Roderick Watson, 57, of Maryland, who was a contracting officer and pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official.

Walter Barnes, 46, of Maryland; Darryl Britt, 64, of Florida; and Paul Young, 62, of Maryland all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official while Barens also pleaded guilty to securities fraud.

Barnes and Britt were the owners of PM Consulting Group LLC (doing business as Vistant) as well as Apprio, Inc. respectively while Young was a subcontractor for both Vistant and Apprio. Both firms were certified businesses with the Small Business Administration 8(a) contracting program.

“Watson exploited his position at USAID to line his pockets with bribes in exchange for more than $550 million in contracts. While he helped three company owners and presidents bypass the fair bidding process, he was showered with cash and lavish gifts,” said Chief Guy Ficco of IRS Criminal Investigation.

According to court documents cited by the DOJ, while Watson was working as a contracting officer for USAID in 2013, he agreed with Britt to receive bribes so that contracts would be awarded to Britt's company Apprio. "Apprio could access lucrative federal contracting opportunities through set-asides and sole-source contracts exclusively available to eligible contractors without a competitive bid process," the DOJ said.

"Vistant was a subcontractor to Apprio on one of the contracts awarded through Watson’s influence," the DOJ said in a press release. After Apprio became ineligible for the SBA 8(a) program, and the scheme changed so that Vistant became the prime contractor with USAID and Apprio was the subcontractor of contracts awarded by Watson between the years of 2018 and 2022.

"Britt and Barnes paid bribes to Watson that were often concealed by passing them through Young, who was the president of another subcontractor to Apprio and Vistant," the DOJ added. Bribes such as cash, laptops, NBA game tickets, downpayments on homes, cell phones, as well as jobs for relatives were all bribes given to Watson which were valued at over $1 million in the scheme.

Watson would then make a variety of actions in order to get contracts awarded to Apprio as well as Vistant. Watson is facing 15 years in prison, Young, Britt, as well as Barnes are all facing five years in prison.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/usaid-of ... ery-scheme

https://thepostmillennial.com/usaid-off ... aign=64483

[noumoe]

Roderick Watson, a USAID contracting officer from Woodstock, Maryland, pleaded guilty to bribery for steering $550 million in contracts to minority-owned businesses through the SBA’s 8(a) program. Co-conspirators Walter Barnes, owner of Vistant, Darryl Britt, owner of Apprio, and subcontractor Paul Young also pleaded guilty to related charges.

Starting in 2013, Watson manipulated USAID’s procurement process, favoring Apprio and later Vistant by leaking sensitive information, securing approvals, and recommending noncompetitive contracts. In return, he received over $1 million in bribes, including cash, electronics, mortgage downpayments, and event tickets, often funneled through Young to conceal the scheme.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thedailyd ... Share=true