Former Government Contractor Pleads Guilty to Bribery

United States Attorney's Office
District of Maryland
May 16, 2016

Former Government Contractor Pleads Guilty to Bribery

Bribes Paid to Former GSA Employees Totaling $15,000 In Exchange For Contract Work

Baltimore, Maryland – Moustafa Ahmed Ibrahim, 37, of Harrisonburg, Virginia pleaded guilty today to paying bribes to public officials in order to obtain government contracts for his company.

 

The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; and General Services Administration Inspector General Carol F. Ochoa.

 

According to his plea agreement, Ibrahim was the owner of a general contracting company that performed construction and maintenance work for government agencies, including GSA, in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Washington, D.C. area.  Ibraham admitted that between October 2007 and November 2009, he paid cash bribes to two GSA Building Managers, both of whom have already pleaded guilty to bribery, in exchange for more than $200,000 in construction and maintenance work at the facilities they managed.  Each job was for less than $3,000 and so could be billed to a government credit card without an open bidding process, and Ibraham admitted that in exchange for the work, he would kick back approximately 10% of each job to the relevant GSA employee. The bribes paid to the GSA officials totaled $15,000 and as part of his plea agreement, Ibrahim agreed to forfeiture in that amount. 

 

Ibrahim faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.  U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III has scheduled sentencing for September 9, 2016.

 

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the GSA Office of Inspector General for its work in the investigation.  Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes and Trial Attorney Richard B. Evans of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, who are prosecuting the case.

 

Source: U.S. Attorney's Office press release