The Justice Department has announced that a USAID official named Roderick Watson, 57, of Woodstock, Maryland, and three corporate executives, Walter Barnes, 46, of Potomac, Maryland; Darryl Britt, 64, of Myakka City, Florida, and Paul Young, 62, of Columbia, Maryland, have pleaded guilty to a decade long scam involving bribery using USAID funds and awarded government contracts.
Roderick Watson took bribes and directed over $550 million to the three USAID contractors. [SEE DETAILS HERE]
DOJ – […] According to court documents, beginning in 2013, Watson, while a USAID contracting officer, agreed with Britt to receive bribes in exchange for using Watson’s influence to award contracts to Apprio. As a certified small business under the SBA 8(a) contracting program, which helps socially and economically disadvantaged businesses, Apprio could access lucrative federal contracting opportunities through set-asides and sole-source contracts exclusively available to eligible contractors without a competitive bid process.
Vistant was a subcontractor to Apprio on one of the contracts awarded through Watson’s influence. After Apprio graduated from the SBA 8(a) program and it was no longer eligible to be a prime contractor for new contracts with USAID under this program, the scheme shifted so that Vistant became the prime contractor and Apprio became the subcontractor on USAID contracts awarded through Watson’s influence between 2018 and 2022.
During the scheme, Britt and Barnes paid bribes to Watson that were often concealed by passing them through Young, who was the president of another subcontractor to Apprio and Vistant. Britt and Barnes also 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. (read more)
Think it is a common problem with 8(a) set-asides. Contracting officer is under pressure to make the award and it’s easy to exploit the system.
Give credit where credit is due! These prosecutions would not have been possible if not for Elon Musk and DOGE!
Wish that was true. But it’s not. Biden’s DOJ already was prosecuting long before anyone heard of DOGE.
https://www.nottinghammd.com/2025/06/13/usaid-official-three-corporate-executives-plead-guilty-to-decade-long-bribery-scheme-involving-more-than-550-million-in-contracts/
It was more of a breaking of the mafia code for racketeering prosecution than anything else. Two-bit crooks stealing from top mafia boss crooks. And getting pinched for it (mafia-controlled DOJ, justice system). Nada, zip, zilch to do with Musk and DOGE.
Well maybe you would like to say it was doge but actually it was uncovered by the inspector general over USAID in 2018 under then President Biden, it has been going on for a decade, the case was started under Biden presidency that doesn’t mean Biden picked up the data sheets and said there’s a problem here, no it was uncovered by an inspector general under Biden but the case has been in the DOJ docket before Trump took office
Taxpayers paid for Rodericks wedding at Hunt Valley CC in Maryland. https://www.zola.com/wedding/naeandrod2021