JUST IN: USAID Official Pleads Guilty In Sprawling Corruption Scheme

Roderick Watson, a former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employee who worked under the Biden administration, and three businessmen have pleaded guilty to participating in a $550 million bribery scheme involving the embattled agency.

Watson, a Maryland native, is alleged to have received bribes valued north of $1 million in exchange for using his position as a trusted overseer of taxpayer money to direct 14 prime federal contracts to two consulting companies, Apprio and Vistant, which were contracted with USAID.

Watson, 57, pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official and faces up to 15 years in federal prison. He is currently scheduled to be sentenced this upcoming October.

As part of the wide-reaching scheme, Vistant owner Walter Barnes and Darryl Britt, owner of Apprio, used Paul Young, the president of a subcontractor used by both Vistant and Apprio, as a middleman in order to facilitate some of the bribes that went to Watson, the Justice Department said in a press release.

Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud. Britt has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official, while Young pleaded 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 in the District of Maryland.

“The defendants sought to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers through bribery and fraud,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Their scheme violated the public trust by corrupting the federal government’s procurement process. Anybody who cares about good and effective government should be concerned about the waste, fraud, and abuse in government agencies, including USAID. Those who engage in bribery schemes to exploit the U.S. Small Business Administration’s vital economic programs for small businesses — whether individuals or corporations acting through them — will be held to account.”

The scheme dates back to 2013 when Watson, working within his capacity as a USAID contracting officer, agreed to steer government contracts to Britt’s Apprio firm in exchange for bribes, prosecutors said. Britt’s company had been eligible for lucrative federal contracts as a designated “socially and economically disadvantaged” business by the Small Business Administration (SBA), according to a report from the New York Post.

When Apprio “graduated” from the SBA 8(a) program, the scheme took a different route, as Watson began to route contracts to Barnes’ Vistant company – an Apprio subcontractor – between 2018 and 2022. Like the initial scheme, Watson did so in exchange for bribes.

The USAID official received “cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, down payments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives,” from the three businessmen as part of the scheme.  Conspirators used shell companies, fake invoices and fraudulent payroll sheets in order to cover up the corruption, prosecutors said.

Barnes, 46, Britt, 64, and Young, 62, each face a maximum of five years behind bars. Watson faces up to 15 years in prison when he is due to be sentenced in October.