Bribed USAID Official Helps Minority Businesses Get $550 Mil in Contracts in Decade-Long Scheme

In yet another case that demonstrates the deep-rooted corruption at the dismantled United States Agency for International Development (USAID) a contracting officer at the scandal-plagued State Department offshoot has pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official for running a decade-long scheme involving over half a billion dollars in contracts. The criminal operation was facilitated by a government program that helps socially and economically disadvantaged business by giving them lucrative federal contracting opportunities through “set-asides and solo-source” contracts exclusively available to minorities and women without a competitive bidding process. All the parties involved in this criminal enterprise, including the veteran USAID employee, are minorities.

It is important to note that the mainstream media, which collectively expressed outrage when President Trump dismantled USAID, has failed to report on the pervasive fraud that has long gripped the foreign aid agency and still ignores cases like this that support the administration’s move. Only a few local Maryland news outlets covered this huge bribery operation because the perpetrators were from the Baltimore area. The corrupt USAID contracting officer, Roderick Watson, is from Woodstock, which is just west of Baltimore. Federal prosecutors say he received over a million dollars in bribes in exchange for using his position as a trusted overseer of taxpayer money to direct 14 prime federal contracts to his three buddies, Walter Barnes, a certified Small Business Administration (SBA) minority business owner, Darryl Britt another minority business owner and Paul Young, a subcontractor of the men’s companies. Barnes has 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 and Young has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.

“The defendants sought to enrich themselves at the expense of American taxpayers through bribery and fraud,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) 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.” Galeotti added that 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 U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, where the case is being tried, emphasized that Watson was entrusted to serve the interests of the American people and his criminal actions for his own personal gain undermine the integrity of public institutions. “Public trust is the hallmark of our nation’s values, so corruption within a federal government agency is intolerable” the U.S. Attorney, Kelly O. Hayes, said.

The elaborate scheme began in 2013 when Watson, while a USAID contracting officer, made a deal with Britt to steer government contracts his way in exchange for bribes. Britt’s company, Apprio, benefitted from the special minority exception and therefore did not receive much scrutiny but when it graduated from the program and was no longer eligible to be a prime business for new contracts with USAID under the initiative, they brought Barnes onboard. His minority-owned company, Vistant, shifted to the prime contractor that cashed in thanks to Watson’s influence between 2018 and 2022. Britt and Barnes concealed the bribes—cash, computers, cellular phones, jobs for relatives, downpayments on two residential mortgages—by passing them through Young, the president of another subcontractor to the men’s businesses. Watson helped his accomplices by manipulating the procurement process at USAID by, among other things, recommending their companies to other agency decisionmakers for noncompetitive contracts, disclosing sensitive procurement information, providing positive performance evaluations, and approving increased funding and security clearances. “Watson exploited his position at USAID to line his pockets with bribes in exchange for more than $550 million in contracts,” according to Guy Ficco, chief of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “While he helped three company owners and presidents bypass the fair bidding process, he was showered with cash and lavish gifts.”

Judicial Watch has for years exposed inherent fraud, waste, and corruption at USAID. Most recently, we sued the agency for records involving $27 million in Gaza grants that went to “Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees.” The Biden administration claimed the recipients could not be disclosed because the agency’s workers could be put at risk by Israel. The involvement of employees of the U.S.-backed United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel underscores the importance of transparency in who receives American taxpayer dollars and how the money is spent.