A former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official
pleaded guilty to demanding and receiving bribes from three for-profit schools
in exchange for enrolling disabled military veterans in those schools and
facilitating over $2 million in payments from the VA using the veterans’
federal benefits.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the
Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the
District of Columbia, Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno of the FBI’s
Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Kim
Lampkins of the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG), Mid-Atlantic Field Office
made the announcement.
James King, 63, of Baltimore, Maryland, pleaded guilty to an
Information alleging one count of honest services and money/property wire
fraud, one count of bribery, and one count of falsifying records to obstruct an
administrative investigation. The plea
was entered before U.S. District Judge John D. Bates of the District of
Columbia, who set sentencing for Jan. 15, 2019.
King is the fourth individual to plead guilty as part of this
investigation. In April, Albert Poawui
and Sombo Kanneh pleaded guilty to bribing and conspiring to bribe King,
respectively. In July, Michelle Stevens
pleaded guilty to bribing King.
“For years, James King and his criminal associates defrauded
an important VA program that provides education services to military veterans
who served our country,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. “The Justice Department is committed to
prosecuting those who seek to illegally enrich themselves at the expense of
programs intended to help our brave servicemembers.”
“James King took advantage of his position with the VA by
participating in a scam that took money from programs meant to help our
disabled military veterans find jobs and enhance their education,” said U.S.
Attorney Liu. “This investigation shows that we will do everything we can to
ensure that taxpayer money intended for our veterans is put to its proper use,
not siphoned off by the people and organizations who are entrusted with helping
them.”
“King tried to use his position to enrich himself at the
expense of veterans who have honorably served our country,” said FBI Special
Agent in Charge DeSarno. “This guilty plea makes it perfectly clear that such
activity by anyone affiliated with the U.S. government will not be tolerated.
The FBI will work closely with our partners to continue to aggressively
investigate allegations of corruption.”
“King’s plea is a win for VA and our veterans,” said Kim
Lampkins, Special Agent in Charge of the VA-OIG Mid-Atlantic Field Office. “It sends a clear message that VA OIG is
dedicated to prosecuting those that take advantage of VA programs that are
intended to help our veterans and their families.”
According to King’s admissions made in connection with his
plea, the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) provides disabled
U.S. military veterans with education and employment-related services. VR&E program counselors advise veterans
under their supervision which schools to attend and facilitate payments to
those schools for veterans’ tuition and necessary supplies.
From 2015 through 2017, King, using his position as a
VR&E program counselor, demanded and received cash bribes from the owners
of Atius Technology Institute (Atius), Eelon Training Academy (Eelon), and
School A, a school purporting to specialize in physical security classes. King facilitated over $2 million in payments
to Atius, over $83,000 to Eelon, and over $340,000 to School A, all in
furtherance of King’s separate agreements with the respective school owners to
commit bribery and defraud the VA. King
agreed with Poawui and Stevens that they would each pay him, in cash, seven
percent of the money they received from the VA in exchange for King steering
veterans to their schools and facilitating VA payments. King similarly accepted cash payments from
the owner of School A, who is identified as Person A in the Information, in
exchange for the same official acts.
In order to maximize the profits from their fraud, all three
school owners sent King and other VA officials false information about the
education being provided to veterans, and King facilitated payments to all
three schools knowing this information was false. King also admitted to repeatedly lying to
veterans under his supervision in order to convince them to attend Atius,
Eelon, or School A. For example, King
falsely instructed one veteran that, unless he attended School A, his VR&E
program benefits would “lapse.” King
insisted that this veteran enroll in School A despite the veteran’s protests
that he could not engage in physical security work due to a physical
disability, and despite the fact that the veteran had enrolled in the VR&E
program to pursue his dream of becoming a baker.
In early 2017, the VA initiated a fact-finding inquiry into
Atius based on complaints by students as to the quality of education at the
school. In August 2017, after King
became aware of the inquiry, he created a falsified site visit report and
instructed Poawui to send it to another VA official, all in an effort to
obstruct the VA’s inquiry into Atius. In
January 2018, after Poawui had begun to cooperate with the government in its
investigation, King attempted to convince Poawui to lie to the grand jury about
the purpose of the bribe payments.
King’s plea is the result of an ongoing investigation by the
FBI’s Washington Field Office and the VA Office of Inspector General. Trial Attorney Simon J. Cataldo of the
Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, former Assistant U.S. Attorney
and current Fraud Section Trial Attorney Sonali D. Patel, and Assistant U.S.
Attorney David Misler of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of
Columbia are prosecuting the case.
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrienne Dedjinou and Paralegal Josh Fein
of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia also assisted with
the investigation
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