Federal contracting officer pleads guilty in massive USAID bribery scandal

Dog Agency in the United States for International Development (US Agency for Development), an agency that was mainly dismantled by Dog amid complaints from Democrats that waste cut will harm poor countries, located at the center of a huge bribery scandal.

One of the federal contract employees and three businessmen acknowledged that he was guilty in a plan that includes bribes such as criticism, the American professional league memory, and his colleagues in a country club in a scandal.

Roderick Watson, 57, worked as a contracting officer at the United States Agency for International Development, according to Press statement by the Ministry of JusticeAnd he admitted that he was guilty of “bribery of a public official.”

According to Doj, Watson sold his influence starting in 2013, where contractors Walter Barnes, the owner of Vistant, and Darryl Britt, Apprio owner, directed the rewards through the Paul Young contractor to hide their paths.

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“During the scheme, Brett and Parles Rashawi pushed Watson, who was often hidden by passing through Young, who was the head of a subcontractor for approval and landing,” the press statement explained.

“Brett and Parles also converted bribes to Watson regularly, including money, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets into a wing in the American Professional League game, a wedding ceremony for the country club, and the performance is available on two residential mortgage, cell phones, and jobs for relatives. It is claimed that they received bribes valued at approximately more than a million dollars As part of the scheme. ”

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Former US Agency for International Development Agency leaves the headquarters of Washington on February 27, 2025. (Lee Green in favor of Fox News Digital)

Vistant was granted in November 2023, as part of a joint venture, a contract of $ 800 million with one of the concentration of this contract is to address a “variety of issues that affect the radical causes of irregular migration from Central America to the United States”, a case that President Joe Biden assigned at the time Kamala Harris with its care.

After several days, this contract was canceled after the US Agency for International Development published a notification that it was excluded from the government contract due to “evidence of the behavior of lack of honesty or commercial integrity.”

Then the joint project successfully sued the government because of its placement on this exclusion list, and the contract was re -evaluated and was granted an amount of $ 10,000 in August 2024.

“Corruption will not be tolerated in government programs. Watson misrepresented his confidence for personal gains while federal contractors participate in the payment plan for employment,” said a general inspector for investigations on investigations by Sean Botari from the US Inspector General of the International Development Agency (USAID-OIG) in the press statement.

“Usaid -o is firmly committed to the connection of fraud and corruption within the American foreign assistance programs. Today’s declaration confirms our fixed focus on exposing criminal activity, including bribery plans by those who have been entrusted with granting government contracts honestly. We appreciate our long partnership with the Ministry of Justice in holding those who hold American tax.”

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The demonstrators hold banners and the March of the American Agency for International Development, a meeting with members of congress to discuss external assistance in the Capitol Hill in Washington on March 5, 2025. (Kent Nishimura/Reuters)

The American Agency for International Development was one of the public faces and the most radical examples of Dog’s efforts to reduce waste, fraud and ill -treatment in the government, and the effort has led to a decrease in the agency’s programs by 83 %, while programs that are vital were transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The US International Development Agency website has become dark, and employees were prevented from entering its headquarters on February 3, while others were suspended. Then the Trump administration announced that all direct rental employees at the United States Agency for International Development will be placed on an administrative leave.

The agency was criticized for many financing options, including allocating $ 1.5 million to a program that sought “diversity, fairness and integration in the workplace in Serbia and business societies” and a $ 70,000 program for “Dei Musical” in Ireland.

During the Doug’s survey, it was revealed that US dollars were over in the hands of terrorist-related groups, such as the money that was reported to provide “full financing” for Al-AL-ALLAKI terrorists to join the college in Colorado formerly.

Since Dog was dismantling the American Agency for International Development, many Democrats and media have criticized the discounts, claiming that they would harm the poor beneficiaries of aid around the world, including U2 Frontman Bono, who said that the cuts would lead to more than 300,000 deaths.

Many Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Senate protested outside the headquarters of the United States Agency for International Development in early February, expressing their anger at the demobilization of workers and discounts, according to The Hill.

Matthew R. Gallowe, head of the Criminal Justice Department, in the press release of the Ministry of Justice, “Anyone who is interested in the good and effective government should be concerned about waste, fraud and abuse in government agencies, including the United States Agency for International Development,” Gallowe, head of the Criminal Justice Department, in the press release of the Ministry of Justice.

Diana Stansei and Rashel Wolf from Fox News Digitter contributed to this report.