“Oyetayo Fagbenro, 62, of Ellicott City, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false claim,” the statement on Friday.
The Justice Department said the defendant was awarded three US grants to build media centers at Afghan universities and in 2010-2012 received approximately $6.9 million in advances for part of the work on the projects.
Fagbenro admitted that he sent approximately $1.38 million from Afghan accounts funded by the State Department to persons he knew and entities he controlled in the US and other countries, all outside of Afghanistan. About $775,000 of these funds went to “relatives, friends, and corporate entities” with no connection to the grants.
“Fagbenro further admitted that in December 2012 he filed a document with the State Department for one of the grants certifying that he had spent all the State Department funds properly and that he needed more funds to complete the project,” the statement said. “He has admitted that those statements were both false. Fagbenro has admitted that the State Department lost about $775,000 as a result of his fraud.”
The US District Court for the District of Columbia scheduled sentencing for February 12, 2021.
