USDOJ Press Release: Army Captain Indicted for Taking Bribes in Baghdad, Iraq, Including Diamond Ring for His Wife

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges U.S. Army Captain with Accepting Bribes While Stationed in Iraq

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOSEPH M. DEMAREST, JR., the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), Brigadier General RODNEY L. JOHNSON, Commanding General of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command ("CID"), and SHARON E. WOODS, the Director of the United States Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service ("DCIS"), announced today that U.S. Army Captain BRYANT WILLIAMS was charged in an Indictment for allegedly steering more than $500,000 in U.S. Army contracts to favored contractors in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments while he was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq. WILLIAMS, 38, of Clarksville, Tennessee, surrendered this morning to federal authorities in Manhattan, and is expected to be presented and arraigned later today before United States Magistrate Judge JAMES C. FRANCIS, IV.

According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court:

From 2005 to 2006, WILLIAMS was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, and served as a procurement officer with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. As a procurement officer, WILLIAMS' duties included participating in the solicitation of bids, assisting in the selection of contractors, and overseeing the administration and completion of U.S. Army contracts that were worth between $2,500 and $200,000.

WILLIAMS unlawfully demanded and accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments in exchange for abusing his position to steer over $500,000 in U.S. Army contracts to favored contractors. The contracts were for a broad range of projects, from providing the U.S. Army with copiers to building the U.S. Army guard towers. In an attempt to conceal a portion of the corrupt payments he received, WILLIAMS provided one contractor with a mailing address in Iowa and directed that the contractor send cash payments totaling $20,000 to that address. Following WILLIAMS' directions, the contractor mailed some of the cash to Iowa from the Bronx, New York.

In January 2006, WILLIAMS provided two contractors with information about a diamond ring WILLIAMS found on the Internet that he wanted the contractors to purchase for him. WILLIAMS told one of the contractors that the diamond ring was a gift for his wife to commemorate their upcoming wedding anniversary. WILLIAMS provided a website address, ring size, and ring order number so that the contractor could purchase the ring for him. One of the contractors, while in the United States, ultimately ordered and paid for the diamond ring, for which WILLIAMS never reimbursed the contractor.

The Indictment charges WILLIAMS with one count of honest services mail fraud and one count of bribery. WILLIAMS faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the honest services mail fraud charge and 15 years in prison for the bribery charge. He also faces a maximum fine of the greater of $250,000 or three times the monetary value of the payments he received, as well as forfeiture of the proceeds of his crimes. This case has been assigned to United States District Judge BARBARA S. JONES. Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI, CID, and DCIS.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office's Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys LOYAAN A. EGAL and PABLO QUIÑONES are in charge of this prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.