In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land also ordered Henry Lee Holloway to pay a $5,000 fine and to forfeit $70,000 as the proceeds of Holloway’s involvement in the conspiracy. Holloway pleaded guilty on April 21, 2009, to a two-count information, charging him with one count of conspiracy and one count of making a false statement on a federal income tax return.

According to court documents, Holloway, 42, of Hamilton, Ga., worked as an AAFES general store manager at the Central Exchange in the Republic of Korea from 2003 through 2007. The Department of Defense provides billions of dollars worth of merchandise and services annually through AAFES to military personnel by operating base and post exchanges worldwide.

From May 2003 to April 2005, Holloway admitted to conspiring with, among others, Gi-Hwan Jeong, the chief executive officer of Samsung Rental Company Ltd (SSRT), to use Holloway’s official position to maintain SSRT’s $206 million contract with AAFES to provide telecommunications services to U.S. Armed Forces installations in the Republic of Korea. Holloway admitted that in exchange for at least $70,000 worth of stock, entertainment, travel expenses, cash and other things of value from Jeong, he took official action to protect SSRT and further its interests, despite Holloway’s knowledge and belief that SSRT was underperforming and violating the terms of its contract with AAFES. According to court documents, prior to Jeong’s payments to Holloway, and as a result of SSRT’s failures to perform under the contractual relationship with AAFES, Holloway sought termination of the contract between AAFES and SSRT. Holloway admitted that after the payments from Jeong to Holloway began, and as a result of those payments, he used official acts and influence to support and expand that contractual relationship.

On June 11, 2009, Jeong pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court in Dallas to a five-count superseding indictment, charging him with two counts of bribery, two counts of honest services wire fraud and one count of conspiracy. On Nov. 10, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade sentenced Jeong to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

This case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Richard C. Pilger and Trial Attorney Eric G. Olshan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. The case was investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the FBI’s Dallas Field Office and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

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In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade also ordered Gi-Hwan Jeong to pay a $50,000 fine. Jeong pleaded guilty on June 11, 2009, to a five-count indictment, charging him with one count of conspiracy, two counts of honest services wire fraud and two counts of bribery.

AAFES is a federal entity that provides billions of dollars worth of goods and services annually to U.S. Armed Forces service members and their families around the world. According to court documents, Jeong conspired between 2001 and 2006 with two AAFES officials, Henry Lee Holloway and Clifton Choy, and others, to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud when he agreed to make payments to the officials in the form of cash, travel, entertainment expenses and other things of value in exchange for their aid in securing and maintaining a $206 million telecommunications contract for his company, Samsung Rental Ltd. (SSRT).

In prior plea proceedings, Jeong admitted to providing approximately $80,000 in cash, entertainment and other things of value from October 2001 to August 2005 as bribes to Choy, an AAFES services program manager for the Pacific region, in exchange for Choy’s use of official action to benefit SSRT. Specifically, according to court documents, prior to AAFES’ award of the telecommunications contract to SSRT in 2001, Choy used his official position to gain access to confidential bid proposal information that competing bidders had submitted to AAFES and passed the information to Jeong, who used it to ensure that SSRT submitted the winning bid. Shortly after AAFES awarded the contract to SSRT, Jeong admitted paying $20,000 in cash to Choy, who passed away in 2008.

Jeong also admitted in prior plea proceedings to providing approximately $70,000 in cash, entertainment, travel expenses, stock options and other things of value as bribes to Holloway from May 2003 to April 2005, in exchange for Holloway’s use of official action to benefit SSRT. Jeong admitted making payments to curry favor with Holloway, who, as an AAFES general store manager for several U.S. military bases in Korea, was in a position to seek termination of AAFES’ contract with SSRT following allegations of performance-related problems relating to SSRT’s contractual obligations. After Jeong began paying Holloway, according to court documents, Holloway used official acts and influence to support the contractual relationship between SSRT and AAFES.

On April 21, 2009, Holloway, 42, of Hamilton, Ga., pleaded guilty before Judge Clay D. Land in the Middle District of Georgia for his role in the conspiracy and for not reporting the bribes he admitted he accepted on his income tax returns. Holloway’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16, 2009.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Richard C. Pilger and Trial Attorney Eric G. Olshan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance in this matter. The case was investigated by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the FBI’s Dallas Field Office and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

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In addition to the prison term, Safavian was also sentenced to two years of supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman of the District of Columbia.

Safavian was found guilty by a federal jury in June 2006 of obstruction of justice and making false statements, but the verdicts were later vacated by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and remanded for a new trial. A federal jury once again convicted Safavian of one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements on Dec. 19, 2008.

The jury in the second trial heard evidence that while Safavian assisted Abramoff in connection with the lobbyist’s attempts to acquire GSA-controlled properties, Abramoff took him on a luxury golf trip to Scotland and to London. The jury found that over the span of three years, Safavian made false statements in an attempt to conceal the fact that around the time of the golf trip he aided Abramoff with business before the GSA. The false statements included statements made to a GSA ethics officer and a GSA Office of Inspector General (GSA-OIG) Special Agent as well as falsely certifying a financial disclosure form.

The jury heard evidence at trial that Safavian’s efforts to cover up the assistance he provided Abramoff continued after he left the GSA in November 2004 to become the Administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the Office of Management and Budget. The jury found that in May 2005, Safavian made false statements to an FBI Special Agent investigating Abramoff’s lobbying activities. According to evidence introduced at trial, Safavian told the FBI agent that he was unable to assist Abramoff with GSA-related activities around the time of the golf trip because he was a new employee at GSA.

Abramoff pleaded guilty in January 2006 to charges of conspiracy, honest services mail fraud and tax evasion and was sentenced in September 2008 to four years in prison in addition to the 22 months he served prior to the sentencing date.

To date, 20 individuals, including lobbyists and public officials, have pleaded guilty, been convicted at trial, or are awaiting trial in connection with the ongoing investigation into the activities of Abramoff and his associates.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Nathaniel B. Edmonds and Trial Attorney Albert Stieglitz Jr. of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Trial Attorney Justin V. Shur of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. The investigation of this case was led by the FBI with assistance from the GSA-OIG. The ongoing investigation of the Abramoff matter is being led by the FBI.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice

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