A former USAID contracting officer, Roderick Watson, and three businessmen, Walter Barnes, Darryl Britt, and Paul Young, have pleaded guilty to a $550 million bribery scheme involving cash, luxury tickets, and a country club wedding. The scheme, uncovered by the Department of Justice, spanned over a decade, with bribes concealed through shell companies and false invoices. The scandal highlights systemic corruption within USAID, an agency that was previously targeted by the Trump administration’s DOGE initiative for waste and fraud.
According to the DOJ, Watson sold his influence starting in 2013, with contractors Barnes and Britt funneling payoffs through subcontractor Young to hide their tracks. The bribes were often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices. Watson is alleged to have received bribes valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives.
During the scheme, Britt and Barnes regularly funneled bribes to Watson, including cash, laptops, thousands of dollars in tickets to a suite at an NBA game, a country club wedding, downpayments on two residential mortgages, cellular phones, and jobs for relatives. The bribes were also often concealed through electronic bank transfers falsely listing Watson on payroll, incorporated shell companies, and false invoices. Watson is alleged to have received bribes valued at more than approximately $1 million as part of the scheme.
Vistant, one of the contractors involved, was awarded in November 2023, as part of a joint venture, a contract worth up to $800 million with one of the focuses of that contract being to address