Former U.S. State Department Employee Jailed
A Washington DC-based former U.S. State Department employee was sentenced to 12 months in an American prison for “conspiring to commit honest services fraud” in relation to a security upgrade to be performed at the U.S. Consulate in Bermuda.
A statement from the U.S. Justice Department said, “May Salehi, a former State Department employee, was sentenced today to 12 months in prison for conspiring to commit honest services fraud.
“Salehi was a longtime State Department employee who was involved in evaluating bids for critical overseas government construction projects such as U.S. embassies and consulates. Salehi gave confidential inside bidding information to a Government contractor, and received $60,000 in kickback payments in return.
“In 2016, the State Department solicited bids for a multimillion-dollar construction project known as a compound security upgrade to be performed at the U.S. Consulate in Bermuda. The bidding process involved the submission of blind, sealed bids from various bidders. ”
“Salehi did not report the $60,000 kickback payments on her taxes, her State Department financial disclosure forms, or her application to renew her top-secret national security clearance.
“In addition to her prison sentence, Salehi, 66, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Salehi was also ordered to forfeit $60,000 and to pay a $500,000 fine.”
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As a State Department employee, May Salehi was entrusted to serve the public. Instead, she abused her position to line her own pockets. Salehi revealed, and traded on, confidential information —corrupting the bidding process and receiving lucrative kickbacks in return.
“Thanks to our partners at the State Department’s Office of Inspector General, Salehi’s crime of deception has been uncovered, and Salehi has now been sentenced to prison.”
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