A federal jury in Elkins, W. Va., convicted Richard Evick, a U.S. Army Sergeant First Class and Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of contracting at a U.S. military base in Kuwait, and his associate, Crystal Martin, of all counts with which they were charged in connection with a bribery and money laundering scheme related to defense contracts awarded in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld II for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Among the persons who paid Evick these bribes was Wajdi Birjas, a civilian U.S. government employee at Camp Arifjan who had a secret interest in a military contractor operating in Kuwait. Birjas testified that he provided phony bids to Evick from purportedly independent contractors who were, in reality, controlled by the same individuals. The evidence showed that Evick used these bids to create the false impression that the contracts were awarded according to Army contracting rules providing for a competitive bidding process. Birjas also testified that he had a hidden safe at his villa where Momon stored more than $800,000 in bribe money and which Evick used to exchange a large amount of Kuwaiti currency for U.S. dollars.
According to the evidence, Evick gave much of his bribe money to Martin, who had a concession from the Army and Air force Exchange Service to sell merchandise at Camp Arifjan, which was primarily a cash business. Evick and Martin then transferred tens of thousands of dollars worth of Evick’s bribe money to the U.S. into the hands of Evick’s wife and his girlfriend. The evidence showed that, in order to conceal the fact that this was bribe money, Evick and Martin converted the money into Western Union wires, money orders, cashiers checks and personal checks. Evick and Martin also smuggled cash into the U.S. on their persons, Martin often taking military transport flights to avoid customs screening. Evick used his bribe money, among other things, to purchase and construct a residence on three and one half acres in Parsons, W. Va., and to buy a pickup truck.
The evidence showed that Evick and Martin also participated in a scheme to smuggle $250,000 of bribe money belonging to Momon into the U.S. Momon testified about a summer 2006 meeting at Kuwait international airport with Evick and Martin, at which Martin described how she was laundering Evick’s bribe money and offered to provide the same service for Momon. According to evidence presented at trial, Evick offered to bury Momon’s money on Evick’s West Virginia property. When law enforcement agents interviewed Evick several months later about corruption at Camp Arifjan, Evick falsely stated that he did not know the contractor from whom evidence showed he had received a $150,000 bribe, among other things.
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