Former United Nations Employee Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison

WASHINGTON—Jeffery K. Armstrong, 52, of South Riding, Va., was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for obtaining more than $100,000 in salary payments by fraudulently holding concurrent jobs at the United Nations (U.N.) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He was ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release following his sentence and to pay $128,153 in restitution.

The sentencing was announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride for the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Director in Charge James W. McJunkin of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; and David P. Berry, Inspector General for the NLRB.

Armstrong was convicted by a federal jury on Oct. 21, 2011, on nine counts of wire fraud. He was indicted on June 28, 2011, by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia for his scheme to defraud the U.N., an international organization committed to humanitarian and peace-keeping efforts, and the NLRB, an independent agency of the U.S. government.

According to evidence presented in the trial, in March 2008, Armstrong took a leave of absence from his position as a supervisory security specialist with the Department of the Army to accept a full-time position at the U.N. As an assistant chief of the Security and Safety Service at the U.N., Armstrong was responsible for all physical security of U.N. facilities in New York City, among other functions. According to evidence at trial, Armstrong received an annual salary from the U.N. of approximately $160,000. In February 2009, after working at the U.N. for almost a year, Armstrong applied for a position as chief of the security branch within the Division of the Administration at the NLRB in Washington, D.C. In April of 2009, Armstrong became a full-time employee at the NLRB, with an annual salary of approximately $121,000.

From approximately April to September 2009, Armstrong was an employee of both the U.N. and the NLRB. Armstrong concealed his dual employment from both employers by, among other things, dissuading NLRB personnel from contacting his supervisor at the U.N., submitting incomplete or inaccurate employment forms to the NLRB, and causing to be mailed to the NLRB false correspondence suggesting that he no longer worked at the U.N. In addition, Armstrong submitted medical leave documentation to the U.N., indicating that he was unable to work and was undergoing medical treatment, despite his full-time employment at the NLRB. According to the evidence presented at trial, Armstrong failed to notify his superiors at both entities of his concurrent employment and received more than $100,000 in concurrent salary.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the NLRB Office of Inspector General. Trial Attorney Eric G. Olshan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Dunn of the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.