Tennessee Man Pleads Guilty to Laundering Bribe Payments from Afghanistan
Clarksville, TN – In a shocking revelation, former US Army Sergeant Jimmy W. Dennis, 44, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder approximately $250,000 in bribe payments he received from Afghan contractors in Afghanistan. The plea comes as a result of an extensive investigation by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the FBI, the Army Criminal Investigative Division, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigation.
According to court pleadings, Dennis was an Army Sergeant assigned as a paying agent in the Humanitarian Aid Yard (HA Yard) at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, from March 2008 through March 2009. During this time, he entered into an agreement with a partner to steer contracts to certain Afghan vendors in return for the bribe payments. The money, totaling $250,000, was smuggled back to the United States hidden in packages addressed to his wife, his father, and a former Army friend, James C. Pittman.
Dennis sent $80,000 to $100,000 to his father from Afghanistan in packages containing toy ‘jingle trucks,’ colorfully decorated trucks or buses in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The money was hidden in the rear compartment of the toy trucks. He also shipped a hope chest to his father containing approximately $100,000 in cash in a concealed compartment.
Pittman, owner of a landscaping business, agreed to ‘run through his company’ these bribery proceeds after being asked for help laundering the funds by Dennis. Pittman, 45, of Rossville, Georgia, pleaded guilty to his role in this conspiracy last Thursday. Sentencing for both Dennis and Pittman is scheduled for September 4 and 8, 2014, respectively.
The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorney Daniel Butler of the Criminal Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frederick Godwin of the Western District of Tennessee and James Brooks of the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorneys Edward L. Stanton III and William C. Killian made the announcement.
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Key Facts
- State: Tennessee
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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