Former U.S. Army Sergeant Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Ramy Elmery, 43, of Woodbridge, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to one count of false statements stemming from his failure to disclose a series of financial transactions with an Iraqi contractor in an application for top secret security clearance.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Stuart W. Bowen, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction; and Robert Craig, Special Agent in Charge for Defense Criminal Investigative Service Mid-Atlantic Field Office, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States District Judge T.S. Ellis, III.

Elmery faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison when he is sentenced on July 12, 2013.

In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement, Elmery admitted that, while he was stationed in Iraq in 2007, he performed interpretation services in contract negotiations between the U.S. Army and an Iraqi contractor. In 2008, Elmery returned to the United States and asked the Iraqi contractor to pay him $500,000. At Elmery’s instruction, the contractor began wiring payments to an Egyptian bank account that belonged to Elmery’s brother. Elmery then opened an Egyptian bank account in his own name and received a payment into that account as well. In total, Elmery received approximately $47,000 from the Iraqi contractor.

In 2011, Elmery applied for top secret security clearance in conjunction with a defense contractor position. In his application, he failed to disclose the relationship with the Iraqi contractor and claimed that he had no foreign bank accounts. In an interview subsequent to submitting the application, Elmery again failed to disclose the relationship with the Iraqi contractor or the existence of the foreign bank accounts.

Pursuant to the plea agreement, Elmery also will forfeit the money he obtained from the Iraqi contractor.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Major Procurement Fraud Unit of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). Assistant United States Attorney Kosta S. Stojilkovic of the Eastern District of Virginia and Special Trial Attorney Mark Grider of the Justice Department Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, on detail from SIGIR, are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae.