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U.S. Department of Justice PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Washington, D.C. - Yaw Oteng-Agipong, a former D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (“DCRA”) employee, has been sentenced to 60 days of imprisonment, to be followed by 180 days of home confinement as part of 3 years of supervised release, and a $5,000 fine for offering a bribe to a current DCRA building inspector in 2006, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, announced today
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Agipong, 63, of the 3000 block of Vista Street, NE, Washington, D.C., was sentenced today in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia before the Honorable Judge Ricardo M. Urbina. Agipong pled guilty in March 2007. During the prior plea hearing, Agipong admitted to offering a $2,000 bribe payment to a DCRA building inspector in return for the DCRA employee expediting the process for a building permit for a development project, which resulted in the lifting of a stop-work order on the project and the reduction of a fine for non-compliance with its existing permit.
According to the government’s proffer of evidence, with which Agipong agreed, at the time of the bribe offer, Agipong, a former DCRA employee, was employed in a private capacity as a structural engineer. The person to whom Agipong offered the bribe (“DCRA employee”) was a construction inspector with DCRA with an office in Washington, D.C., whose job it was to inspect construction projects in the District of Columbia to insure that the projects complied with D.C. building regulations, codes and laws.
At all relevant times, a limited liability corporation (“the LLC”) was engaged in a construction project in the 1100 block of 5th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. On September 20, 2006, the LLC received a stop-work order from the DCRA employee because it allegedly exceeded the scope of its building permit. The LLC retained Agipong to help resolve the stop-work order favorably. On September 21, 2006, Agipong went to the DCRA employee’s office to talk to him about the stop-work order. Agipong asked the DCRA employee to approve the building plans so the construction could continue and told the DCRA employee that he would give him $2,000 for doing so. Agipong offered and promised to pay the $2,000 with the intent to influence the DCRA employee in the performance of an official act. If it required more money for that purpose, Agipong was willing to pay more money. The DCRA employee agreed to take the money in return for expediting the permit, which resulted in lifting the stop-work order and lowering the fine that had been levied against the LLC property for exceeding its permit from $6,000 to $3,000.
On September 22, 2006, Agipong met with the LLC partners with the intent to request the money from the LLC to pay the stop work order fine, the permit fee, a fee for Agipong’s services, and the bribe to the DCRA employee. Agipong requested from the partners $20,000 to cover these expenses and he described the bribery scheme. The partners agreed that they would take steps to obtain the money to give it to Agipong for those purposes.
On September 28, 2006, Agipong asked the DCRA employee to meet at Agipong’s office. The DCRA employee told Agipong he did not meet people in offices and asked that they meet on the street. The DCRA employee and Agipong then met at a pre-arranged location on the street. At the beginning of the meeting, the DCRA employee patted down Agipong. He then asked Agipong if he was wearing a wire and if he had the money. Agipong did not have the bribe money at that time.
On October 10, 2006, Agipong met at a pre-arranged location with the LLC partners to obtain the $20,000 from them. The money was not transferred at that time, however, because of the arrival of FBI agents. The agents took a statement from Agipong in which he admitted the above-described bribery scheme.
In announcing today’s sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor and Assistant Director Persichini praised the hard work of the FBI agents involved in this matter, especially Special Agents Andrew Marc Benjamin and Eric Hathaway. They also acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant Teesha Tobias, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Butler, who prosecuted this matter.
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