Tag: bribery

New FBI files released by Sen. Chuck Grassley show more Hunter, Joe Biden bribery allegations

Newly declassified FBI files set to be released Tuesday by Sen. Chuck Grassley will reveal more bribery allegations involving former first son Hunter Biden and former President Joe Biden that may have never been fully investigated.

The files memorialize two interviews, in 2017 and 2019, with FBI sources who shared details about the Biden family being linked to a possible foreign bribery “scheme” with Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, according to copies reviewed by The Post.

The informants alleged that Zlochevsky sought to offer then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko $100 million in “shares and guaranteed profits from gas sales” to stop an “Interpol investigation” into Burisma — into which Joe and Hunter Biden had “money invested” via a Latvian “shell company.”

The sources also alleged that Joe Biden met directly with Poroshenko “to protect the interests” of his son and, by extension, Zlochevsky, who was paying Hunter around $1 million per year between May 2014 and April 2019 to serve on Burisma’s board.

The future 46th president’s effort to protect Burisma’s owner was also allegedly supported by members of the US intelligence community.

“[T]wo CIA officers took Zlochevsky into the office of Yuriy Lutsenko, who is the Prosecutor General of Ukraine,” reads the one document, also known as an FD-1023, drawn from an in-person interview with a confidential human source on Feb. 21, 2019.

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Another Democrat Official Caught in Federal Corruption Case

Federal prosecutors in Detroit unveiled new charges on Thursday that expose yet another case of corruption within the Wayne County government. 

Jontae Jackson, a 45-year-old former taxpayer assistant in the county treasurer’s office, was charged with bribery, conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft. 

According to court documents, Jackson pocketed nearly $18,000 in bribes in exchange for illegally removing properties from the county’s tax foreclosure list.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson worked with Zina Thomas, 61, a former director at the United Community Housing Coalition, a nonprofit organization aimed at protecting struggling Detroit homeowners. 

Instead, Thomas conspired to steal more than 30 properties from low-income residents, using forged quitclaim deeds, fake driver’s licenses, and fraudulent residency documents. 

Jackson would process the documents, remove the properties from foreclosure, and Thomas would flip the homes without the consent of the rightful owners.

The scheme lasted from March to September 2023, and prosecutors say it preyed on Detroiters who were already at risk of losing their homes. 

At least $17,950 in bribe payments were funneled to Jackson. Both she and Thomas are expected to plead guilty, with potential prison sentences of up to ten years.

This scandal is not an isolated incident. It comes on the heels of a wave of public corruption cases in Michigan. 

Just this month, former Inkster Mayor Patrick Wimberly was sentenced in a bribery scheme involving a strip club shakedown. 

Earlier in August, Saif Alsenad, the former government and public affairs director of Wayne County, was charged with lying to the FBI during a bribery investigation. 

These cases paint a bleak picture of Michigan politics, where local government officials repeatedly betray the trust of the very citizens they are sworn to serve.

Unfortunately, Michigan is far from alone. Across the country, similar cases of corruption and abuse of power are surfacing. 

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Former Adams Aide Winnie Greco Bizarrely Claims Cash-Stuffed Potato Chip Bag Handed to NYC Reporter Was ‘Birthday Gift’ – But Her Birthday’s Months Away

In a bizarre twist to an ongoing scandal surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, former adviser Winnie Greco has claimed that a potato chip bag filled with $300 in cash, which she handed to a local reporter, was merely a “birthday gift” rooted in Chinese cultural traditions.

The problem, aside from it being in a shady sour cream and onion potato chip bag, is that the reporter’s birthday is not until November.

The incident unfolded after a reelection event for Mayor Adams, where Greco allegedly gave The City reporter Katie Honan a bag containing an envelope stuffed with cash.

Many obviously interpreted the gesture as a potential bribe or payoff attempt, but Greco insists it was innocent.

When confronted about the secret envelope full of cash by The New York Post, Greco said, “I don’t have purpose, and I treat people everyone is the same. It’s angel, OK, but if somebody want to hurt me because I have love to my community, and I have love to the world, to my family, my people, and somebody try to hurt me, I cannot say nothing.”

“Before I didn’t know how much in my envelope because it’s my birthday gift that’s Chinese culture. Somebody give me my birthday gift, I made big mistake I’m so sorry. Talk to my lawyer.”

When asked to clarify if she believes the reporter was trying to “hurt” her, Greco said, “Yes. Talk to my lawyer.”

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Corrupt Democrat Rep. Caught Taking Bribes

In 2013, U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife took a seemingly routine trip to Turkey and Azerbaijan, funded by an obscure Houston-based nonprofit. 

What followed, federal prosecutors now allege, was a years-long scheme involving foreign influence, money laundering, and one of the most serious indictments ever brought against a sitting member of Congress.

According to a federal indictment unsealed last week, Cuellar and his wife accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company, SOCAR, and Mexico’s Banco Azteca. 

Prosecutors allege that Cuellar, a Democrat from Laredo, Texas, used his office to advance the interests of these entities in exchange for payments disguised as consulting fees to shell companies owned by his wife. 

The indictment accuses Cuellar of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government—a rare charge previously brought against Sen. Bob Menendez in 2023 for working on behalf of Egypt.

The Cuellars allegedly funneled money through front companies, spent it on luxury items such as a $12,000 gown and restaurant bills, and concealed the transactions through intermediaries. 

One of those intermediaries, Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, a longtime associate of Cuellar, has already pleaded guilty to money laundering. So has Colin Strother, Cuellar’s former chief of staff and campaign manager, who prosecutors say funneled monthly payments to Cuellar’s wife.

Prosecutors claim the payments began in 2014, shortly after Cuellar’s trip to Azerbaijan. In text messages and emails, Cuellar allegedly communicated directly with Elin Suleymanov, then Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the U.S., discussing contracts, payments, and legislation favorable to the country. 

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Prosecutors accuse Smartmatic executive of bribing Venezuelan election official with luxury home

Federal prosecutors have accused Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate of bribing the top Venezuelan election official with a luxury residence in Caracas in exchange for political favors.

Piñate, who was charged with multiple counts of money laundering and bribery related to contracts in the Philippines, according to the Miami Herald, has been accused of transferring the home to election chief Tibisay Lucena Ramírez in order to secure her help in resolving a commercial dispute with the Venezuelan government.

The alleged dispute comes after Smartmatic claimed in 2017 that Nicolás Maduro’s administration committed fraud in the National Constituent Assembly election, which led the company to conclude its business in the country later that year. 

The new revelations occurred in a court filing related to the Philippines’ case on Friday, where prosecutors attempted to show a pattern of allegedly criminal behavior and alleged intent to commit bribery.

Pinate-VenezuelaBribeAllegationDocument.pdf

Piñate was charged in a $1 million bribery scheme in the Philippines for allegedly inflating the prices of voting machines and diverting the excess funds into secret accounts used to pay off Philippine election official Juan Andrés Donato Bautista.

Prosecutors claimed the home was allegedly transferred to Lucena Ramírez through a foreign shell company with the help of an unnamed co-conspirator. The transfer was allegedly completed between April and July 2019, after the company supposedly ended its business in Venezeula. 

Smartmatic denied the accusations in a statement to the Miami Herald, claiming the filing was riddled with “misrepresentations,” including with the timeline. 

“As an example, the government’s citation of an alleged bribe in Venezuela in 2019 is untethered from reality. Smartmatic ceased all operations in Venezuela in August 2017 after blowing the whistle on the government and has never sought to secure business there again,” the company said in an email. “We have always operated lawfully, ethically, and transparently. We stand by our two-decade track record of integrity.”

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Ukraine’s Anti-Graft Agencies Say They Uncovered Major Drone Procurement Bribery Case

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies said on Aug. 2 they had uncovered a large-scale bribery scheme involving the procurement of military drones and electronic warfare equipment.

This came just days after the agencies’ independence was restored following mass protests over government efforts to curb their powers.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said in a statement on Saturday that the alleged plot involved a sitting lawmaker, current and former regional officials, National Guard personnel, and a company executive.

Investigators alleged that those involved had refined a scheme over the past two years to systematically siphon off budget funds allocated by local authorities for defense needs, and to secure “unfair benefits in particularly large quantities.”

Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, identified the accused lawmaker as Oleksii Kuznetsov of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party.

Party leader Davyd Arakhamiia later said on Telegram that Kuznetsov’s membership in the parliamentary faction would be suspended while the investigation is underway, and that a disciplinary panel was weighing his expulsion.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Ukrainian parliament’s press office with a request to forward a comment request to Kuznetsov.

In a separate statement, the party said it supported the work of NABU and SAPO, and stressed that responsibility for corrupt acts “must be borne by everyone, regardless of position, status or political affiliation.”

It said the recently passed law restoring the agencies’ independence “created additional guarantees for their work,” for them to act decisively and professionally in combating corruption.

Zelenskyy said in a statement posted on X on Saturday that he had been briefed on the investigation by the heads of NABU and SAPO, confirming that a lawmaker, local officials, and several National Guard servicemembers had been “exposed for bribery.”

“I am grateful to the anti-corruption agencies for their work,” he wrote. “There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork in uncovering it, and ultimately, a fair sentence. It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law passed on Thursday guarantees them all the tools necessary for a real fight against corruption.”

The law he referred to marked a dramatic about-face for his administration.

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Pfizer bribery probe dropped after ex-company lawyer Pam Bondi takes over DOJ in February 2025.

The DOJ dropped its Pfizer bribery probe in China and Mexico soon after Pam Bondi, a former Pfizer legal consultant, became Attorney General in February 2025. The investigation’s closure, evident from Pfizer’s latest filings, has raised concerns about Bondi’s influence and DOJ impartiality.

For the past several years, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for potential foreign corruption violations related to its activities in China and Mexico, according to the company’s financial filings.

But that appears to have changed after the Trump administration tapped Pam Bondi — previously an outside legal counsel for Pfizer — to lead the Justice department as attorney general.

In the company’s most recent annual report, filed three weeks after Bondi took office in early February, there was no longer any reference to the Justice Department investigations into the company’s potential violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act. A quarterly a report in May also contains no reference to these investigations.

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Feds seize $1M OC home at center of corruption scandal

The U.S. government has seized a home in unincorporated Tustin at the center of the corruption scheme involving former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do. The home was purchased by Do’s daughter Rhiannon Do for a little more than $1 million in 2023.

The downpayment came from taxpayer money awarded to a nonprofit led by Rhiannon Do. That money was supposed to be used to feed needy seniors.

The backstory: Andrew Do was sentenced to five years in prison last month for accepting bribes disguised as payments to his two adult daughters, including the $385,000 downpayment for Rhiannon Do’s home in unincorporated Tustin.

The forfeited assets: As part of Do’s sentencing, Judge James V. Selna found that he had an interest in the Tustin home, another property, and $2.4 million in bank accounts. Selna ordered the immediate transfer of the assets to the federal government.

What happens now? Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said the Tustin home would be “sold just like any other property,” and the money will be returned to Orange County.

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Administrator Kelly Loeffler Announces Full-Scale Audit of SBA 8(a) Program After DOJ Finds Over $550 Million in Contracts Linked to Bribery and Fraud Scheme

A USAID official and three government contractors pleaded guilty to a decade-long bribery scheme involving over $550 million in contracts, according to the Justice Department.

According to court documents, beginning in 2013, USAID contracting officer Roderick Watson agreed with corporate executive Darryl Britt to receive bribes in exchange for Watson’s influence to award contracts to a small business named Apprio and its subcontractor Vistant.

Watson received more than $1 million in bribes to steer no-bid contracts to Apprio and Vistant.

Wilson and Britt used the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) contracting program, which helps ‘socially and economically disadvantaged businesses’ bid on contracts, to make this massive scheme possible.

Per the DOJ:

Four men, including a government contracting officer for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and three owners and presidents of companies, have pleaded guilty for their roles in a decade-long bribery scheme involving at least 14 prime contracts worth over $550 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars.

  • Roderick Watson, 57, of Woodstock, Maryland, who worked as a USAID contracting officer, pleaded guilty to bribery of a public official;
  • Walter Barnes, 46, of Potomac, Maryland, who was the owner and president of PM Consulting Group LLC doing business as Vistant (Vistant), a certified small business under the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) 8(a) contracting program, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official and securities fraud;
  • Darryl Britt, 64, of Myakka City, Florida, who was the owner and president of Apprio, Inc. (Apprio), a certified small business under the SBA 8(a) contracting program, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official; and
  • Paul Young, 62, of Columbia, Maryland, who was the president of a subcontractor to Vistant and Apprio, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official.

On Friday, Kelly Loeffler, the head of the Small Business Administration announced the SBA will perform a full-scale audit of the 8(a) race-based contracting program.

Loeffler released this statement Friday.

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Trump Grants Full Pardon for Former Virginia Sheriff

President Donald Trump on Monday said he has pardoned Scott Jenkins, the former sheriff of Virginia’s Culpeper County, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison following a federal bribery conviction.

Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform, calling Jenkins a victim of “an overzealous Biden Department of Justice” who “doesn’t deserve to spend a single day in jail.”

A federal jury in December 2024 found Jenkins guilty on all 12 counts of conspiracy, fraud, and bribery in connection with his 2023 reelection campaign. Prosecutors said he accepted at least $72,000 in cash bribes in exchange for badges through the county’s auxiliary sheriff’s deputy program.

According to court documents, several individuals, including three co-defendants and two undercover FBI agents, were promised official Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office badges and identification, despite not being trained, vetted, or performing any law enforcement duties.Jenkins maintained his innocence, while his three co-defendants pleaded guilty. His defense argued that the payments were legitimate campaign contributions and that it was within his authority as a sheriff to designate auxiliary deputy sheriffs.

In March, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison and had filed an appeal.

Trump came to Jenkins’s defense on Monday, accusing the judge who presided over the case of being politically motivated and excluding exculpatory evidence in favor of the sheriff during the trial.

The judges allegedly “allow into evidence what they feel like, not what is mandated under the Constitution and Rules of Evidence,” the president wrote.

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