Former Air Force Contractor Juan Carlos Arevalo III, Bribery, Virginia 2023

State: Virginia
Category: Public Corruption
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/former-air-force-contractor-pleads-guilty-bribery-scheme" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

Alexandria, Virginia – A former US Air Force (USAF) contractor has pleaded guilty to engaging in a bribery scheme relating to a large technology contract awarded by the USAF.

According to court documents, Juan Carlos Arevalo III, 44, of Occoquan, served as the chief technologies officer and senior technical consultant for a USAF component that focuses on intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and innovation.

Arevalo worked closely with senior USAF officials in the Pentagon and helped them to design, develop, and deliver various military technologies.

Julio R. “Jace” Sotomayor, a retired USAF colonel and the owner of two consulting firms – Eagle Market Group (EMG) and Federal Security Agency (FSA) – and the minority owner of a government contracting firm, allegedly sought to provide services to the USAF to support various technology projects and initiatives.

As part of this objective, Sotomayor and the contracting firm’s majority owner sought to engage in a corrupt, multi-year scheme in which Sotomayor, through EMG, paid $185,000 to Arevalo using his relative as a pass-through intermediary.

In exchange for these payments, Arevalo agreed to perform and did perform official acts, and sought to influence other officials, to benefit Sotomayor, the firm, and the firm’s majority owner.

Sotomayor also engaged in a similar pass-through bribery scheme with a former federal contracting officer, Diane Sturgis, by using EMG to pay $150,000 to Sturgis’s relative in exchange for official assistance regarding the same USAF technology contract.

Arevalo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 13.

Related Federal Cases