Former Employee of D.C. OCTO and OCFO Pleads Guilty to Honest Services Wire Fraud Conspiracy

WASHINGTON—Farrukh Awan, a former employee of the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and the District of Columbia’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), has pled guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud (Honest Services) for his role in an alleged kickback scheme, Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Charles Willoughby, Inspector General for the District of Columbia, announced today.

Awan, 37, of South Riding, Virginia, pled guilty before the Honorable Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. to the one-count information earlier today. Sentencing is set for February 12, 2010.

During his guilty plea, Awan admitted that between September 2005 and January 2007, he conspired with Yusuf Acar and Sushil Bansal to deprive the citizens of the District of Columbia and OCTO of their right to the honest services of himself and of Yusuf Acar, free from deceit, favoritism, bias, self-enrichment, self-dealing, concealment, and conflict of interest. Awan admitted that he and Yusuf Acar were both in a position to influence the approval of candidates put forth by Bansal’s company, Advanced Integrated Technologies Corporation (AITC) for positions at OCTO and that he and Acar both sat on panels responsible for assessing the candidates for certain positions and ultimately approved candidates, for which they had a financial interest. Once these candidates were approved, Awan and Acar would receive kickbacks from Bansal. The kickback was a portion of the hourly wage paid to AITC for each employee placed at OCTO.

Awan agreed that he is jointly and severally liable with his co-conspirators for a total of $156,807 in restitution to the District of Columbia Government. Awan transferred $43,755 of this money to Yusuf Acar by writing checks to Acar’s wife for “IT Consulting Services.” Awan also agreed to forfeiture of $46,647.50, which is the agreed upon loss amount for Awan pursuant to the plea agreement.

The maximum penalty for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud (Honest Services) is 20 years' incarceration. The applicable sentencing range under the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines is 24 to 30 months incarceration.

“The residents of the District of Columbia deserve a corrupt free government with ethical employees, and have the right to know that their money is being spent honestly and for the public good,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips. “Whenever anyone violates the public trust and breaks the law, we will prosecute them vigorously.”

In announcing the guilty plea, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini, and D.C. Inspector General Willoughby commended the outstanding investigative work of Special Agents of the FBI and Special Agent Teddy Clark and the late Special Agent Lloyd Hodge of the D.C. Office of the Inspector General. They also acknowledged the efforts of U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegals Diane Hayes and Tasha Harris, former Legal Assistant Lisa Robinson, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Hibarger and Glenn Leon, who are prosecuting this case.