UK Contractor Extradited to U.S., Pleads Guilty in Massive USAID Fraud Scheme Tied to Pakistan Energy Program
A UK citizen who ripped off American taxpayers through a U.S.-funded foreign aid program has been sentenced to time served after a brazen kickback scheme drained nearly $100,000 in USAID funds — and he’ll now be handed over to immigration authorities.
Stephen Paul Edmund Sutton, 53, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C. federal court Monday to conspiring to commit theft concerning a program receiving federal funds, a felony offense.
Sutton was a Logistics Operations Manager for a contractor implementing the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Power Distribution Program (PDP) in Pakistan — a five-year effort that was supposed to help modernize Pakistan’s failing electric utilities.
Instead, Sutton and his co-conspirator, who remains under indictment, lined their pockets by setting up bogus shell companies that funneled inflated contracts for forklifts and crane services — all under the guise of helping Pakistan’s struggling power grid. Sutton personally pocketed at least $21,000 in kickbacks.
More from DOJ:
According to court documents, PDP was a component of U.S. government assistance to the government of Pakistan to support its energy sector.
Launched in September 2010, the five-year program was designed to facilitate improvements in Pakistan’s government-owned electric power distribution companies through interventions and projects addressing governance issues, technical and non-technical losses, and low revenue collection.
The main goal of the PDP was to improve the commercial performance of the participating distribution companies through technology upgrades and improvements in processes, procedures, and practices, as well as training and capacity building.