USAID Official Roderick Watson, 3 Corporate Execs Plead Guilty in Bribery and Fraud Scheme

This is just the tip of the iceberg https://t.co/MXXCJBDdLn

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 13, 2025

From the Daily Record:

A former U.S. Agency for International Development official in Maryland and three corporate executives have pleaded guilty for their roles in a decade-long bribery scheme involving more than $550 million in contracts, with two of the companies who contracted with USAID agreeing Thursday to defer their own prosecution.

Roderick Watson, a former USAID contracting officer, pled guilty last month before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to receiving bribes from three corporate executives in exchange for awarding USAID contracts to Apprio, Inc. and Vistant, federal contractors that provide technology solutions and program management services to government agencies.

Walter Barnes, owner and president of PM Consulting Group LLC (d/b/a Vistant), also pled guilty last month to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud; Darryl Britt, owner and president of Apprio, pled guilty in October 2024 to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official; and Paul Young, president of a subcontractor to Apprio and Vistant, pled guilty in June last year to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.

...Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a news release Thursday that the four men “sought to enrich themselves at the expense of the American taxpayers.”

“Their scheme violated the public trust by undermining the integrity of the federal government’s procurement process,” Galeotti said.

...“Watson was entrusted to serve the interests of the American people—not his own—and his criminal actions for his own personal gain undermines the integrity of our public institutions,” Hayes said in a news release.

Roderick Watson and his cohorts in their bribery and fraud scheme abused American taxpayers.

This is $550 million example of government corruption is just a drop in the bucket.