Four Plead Guilty in $550 Million USAID Fraud Scheme: DOJ

Four individuals have pleaded guilty to participating in a bribery scheme involving the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which resulted in 14 contracts worth more than $550 million being improperly awarded to companies involved in the fraud, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a June 12 statement.

Roderick Watson, 57, of Maryland, a USAID contracting officer, pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official. Walter Barnes, 46, of Maryland, the owner of Vistant, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud.

Darryl Britt, 64, of Florida, the owner of Apprio Inc., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official. Paul Young, 62, of Maryland, the president of a subcontractor to Vistant and Apprio, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.

Both Vistant and Apprio are small businesses certified under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) contracting program, an initiative aimed at helping businesses deemed to be socially and economically disadvantaged.

According to court documents, the bribery scheme began in 2013 while Watson was a USAID contracting officer, the DOJ said. At the time, Watson allegedly agreed to take bribes from Britt in exchange for using his position at USAID to award contracts to Apprio. Vistant was a subcontractor of Apprio in one of these contracts.

After Apprio was no longer eligible for contracts with USAID, Vistant became the prime contractor and Apprio became the subcontractor for USAID contracts awarded via Watson’s influence between 2018 and 2022, according to court documents.

Apprio and Vistant, both of which contracted with USAID, have “agreed to admit criminal liability” and “engaging in a conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud,” the DOJ said in the statement.

During the scheme, Watson is alleged to have received bribes from Britt and Barnes that were often concealed by passing the funds through Young.

“Britt and Barnes also regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives,” the DOJ said.

“The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices. Watson is alleged to have received bribes valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme.”

All four individuals are scheduled to be sentenced at various dates between July and October. Watson is facing a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, with the other three individuals facing a prison term of up to five years.

”The defendants sought to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers through bribery and fraud,” the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, Matthew R. Galeotti, said. “Their scheme violated the public trust by corrupting the federal government’s procurement process.”

The Epoch Times reached out to legal representatives for Barnes and Watson but did not receive a response by publication time. The Epoch Times was unable to reach legal representatives for Britt and Young.

Dismantling USAID

The Trump administration has been seeking to dismantle USAID.

In February, then-presidential adviser Elon Musk said President Donald Trump had agreed that USAID should be shut down.

“It became apparent that its [sic] not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”

On March 10, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department had canceled about 83 percent of USAID contracts.

“The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, (and in some cases even harmed), the core national interests of the United States,” he said on social media platform X.

The department decided to keep the remaining contracts, numbering roughly 1,000.

The administration also terminated or placed on leave most USAID employees while shutting down the agency headquarters, which was taken over by the Customs and Border Patrol employees.

On March 18, a federal judge ruled that Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency team likely violated the U.S. Constitution in seeking to dismantle the agency.

The judge ordered that access for USAID workers and contractors be reinstated and that no further actions related to terminating contracts or workers be taken.

The Trump administration is currently pushing a bill through Congress rescinding $9.4 billion in federal spending, including USAID programs.

The rescissions aim to cut “wasteful foreign assistance spending at the Department of State and USAID and through other international assistance programs,” according to a May 28 letter sent to Trump by Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

“These rescissions would eliminate programs that are antithetical to American interests, such as funding the World Health Organization, LGBTQI+ activities, ‘equity’ programs, radical Green New Deal-type policies, and color revolutions in hostile places around the world,” the letter stated.

On June 12, the House of Representatives passed the bill. It now goes to the Senate.