Well, would you look at this.
Yup.
Don't forget, liberals, this is the kind of thing you were once against. So don't be afraid to cross party lines and criticize government fraud and abuse of power.
From the DOJ:
Roderick Watson, 57, of Woodstock, Maryland, who worked as a USAID contracting officer, pled guilty to bribery of a public official; Walter Barnes, 46, of Potomac, Maryland, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud; Darryl Britt, 64, of Myakka City, Florida, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official; and Paul Young, 62, of Columbia, Maryland, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.
In addition, Apprio and Vistant, both of which contracted with USAID, have agreed to admit criminal liability and enter into three-year deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) in connection with criminal informations filed today in the District of Maryland. As part of these resolutions, both Apprio and Vistant admitted to engaging in a conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud.
Remember when the media said stuff like this wasn't possibly happening and Elon Musk was murdering democracy in cold blood by investigating it?
The scheme involved "cash, NBA tickets, and a country club wedding." Robert Watson, a USAID official, started selling his influence in 2013.
More from the DOJ:
During the scheme, 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. 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.
Wild stuff, but honestly what did we expect from Washington? This should come as a surprise to nobody, and we can only expect to see more of it.
Watson worked with Britt to take bribes in exchange for Watson's influence in awarding contracts to Apprio, which bypassed the bidding process and gave Apprio sweet taxpayer cash.
Vistant was a subcontractor to Apprio on one of the contracts awarded through Watson's influence. After Apprio graduated from the SBA 8(a) program and it was no longer eligible to be a prime contractor for new contracts with USAID under this program, the scheme shifted so that Vistant became the prime contractor and Apprio became the subcontractor on USAID contracts awarded through Watson's influence between 2018 and 2022.
Show this to your liberal friends if you wish, but don't expect them to change their minds as to how important it is for the Swamp to be drained.
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