Zahui Mathieu, Accepting Gratuities, Virginia 2024
A high-ranking official at the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) has agreed to plead guilty to accepting gratuities and making false statements.
Mathieu Zahui, 59, of Fairfax, Virginia, who referred to himself as the "CFO" of USADF, arranged for USADF to pay USADF vendors and contractors through a Kenya-based company, Company-1.
Between June 2020 and December 2023, Zahui arranged for Company-1 to act as a pass-through for USADF's payments to certain vendors, rather than have USADF pay the vendors directly.
Zahui approved pass-through invoices for Company-1 that included mark-ups ranging from 17% to 66% above the amounts owed to the vendors, even when Company-1 did no work justifying the mark-up.
In total, Company-1 submitted more than 20 pass-through invoices to USADF, for which Zahui caused USADF to pay at least $617,625.49 to Company-1. Of this total amount paid, Company-1 retained $134,886.34 as a mark-up.
Zahui accepted $12,000 in cash payments directly from CC-1, a government contractor.
Zahui agreed to plead guilty to one count of accepting gratuities from CC-1 and making a false statement to federal law enforcement agents.
Zahui's actions betrayed the trust of the American people and cheated American taxpayers, said Acting Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Sean M. Bottary of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Inspector General.
Zahui is scheduled to be sentenced in the future.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →