Army Contracting official charged in Pentagon bribery scheme

James Glenn Warner, 44, of Manassas, Virginia, was arrested today and charged with soliciting bribes from executives working for a private company on a contract that Warner managed out of the Pentagon.    

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Andrew G. McCabe, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Robert E. Craig, Special Agent in Charge, Mid Atlantic Field Office, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; and Frank Robey, Director, Major Procurement Fraud Unit, 701st Military Police Group, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, made the announcement after Warner’s initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Anderson.  

Warner faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and up to a $1.5 million fine, if convicted. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Criminal complaints are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, in October 2014, Warner made arrangements to meet with two executives of Company A, a Virginia-based company which held a five-year contract with the Department of the Army worth up to $120 million.  At the meeting, which took place at a restaurant located in the Pentagon Centre in Arlington, Virginia, Warner instructed the two executives to communicate with him by typing messages into his cellular telephone, which was passed around the table.  As the affidavit alleges, Warner then passed a menu to the two executives.  Inside the plastic covering for the center section of the menu was a piece of paper which outlined a bribe and extortion solicitation, suggesting that if Company A paid $500,000 it would secure a contract renewal from the Department of the Army and that alleged damaging information about Company A would be destroyed.  According to the affidavit, the Company A executives declined Warner’s solicitation, reported the conduct and began cooperating with law enforcement agents.  Acting at the direction of law enforcement, a Company A executive then met with Warner on four subsequent occasions, paying Warner a total of $50,000 cash bribes out of the total $500,000 solicited by Warner.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark D. Lytle and Kosta S. Stojilkovic are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Any person who believes they may have information regarding public corruption in the Northern Virginia area is encouraged to call the FBI’s Northern Virginia Public Corruption Hotline at 703-686-6225.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:15-mj-39.