Former federal government employee Ifediora Oli has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, after pleading guilty to charges of conspiring to commit fraud against local agencies in Washington D.C., and for falsifying records to cover up his illicit activities. Oli, a former employee of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), was found to have worked in collaboration with local officials to channel over $1 million to his privately owned company, Highbury Global Group, Inc.
This corruption saga was unraveled thanks to the efforts of U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, and others from the FBI, WMATA Office of Inspector General, and the D.C. Office of Inspector General. Oli's sentencing, which also encompasses three years of supervised release and a combined restitution payment of $150,000 to the District of Columbia and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), was detailed in a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
The scandal also implicated two other government officials: Bridgette Crowell and Obinna Ogbu. Crowell, who has already been sentenced to seven months in prison, colluded with Oli while she was managing contracts for the District’s Office of Contracting and Procurement (OCP) and previously for WMATA. She facilitated the contract fraud that allowed Highbury and another company, Nupath, to profit from nonpublic information and manipulated contract bids. Ogbu is scheduled for sentencing on October 28. Using his positions within WMATA and OCP, he also played an integral role in the conspiracy, receiving kickbacks that included over $100,000 and luxury items like cars and vacations.
Documents presented in court detailed the depth of the conspiracy, which spanned from 2018 to 2023. As noted in reports by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Oli and his co-conspirators were involved in steering funds from WMATA IT-related contracts and District contracting opportunities towards their own enterprises. Oli, in particular, also admitted to unlawfully falsifying an annual financial disclosure record to the USDA, presenting a façade of compliance while his hands worked the strings of deceit behind the scenes. The fraudulent enterprise was substantial enough to afford Oli a Mercedes sedan, obtained from the proceeds of the crime; the vehicle is now subject to forfeiture.
The FBI’s Washington Field Office with assistance from the WMATA Office of the Inspector General and the District of Columbia Office of the Inspector General conducted the investigation leading to the guilty pleas and subsequent sentences of the parties involved. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Visser of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia pursued the prosecution of these cases.
