Four defendants tied to Texas and Colorado received federal prison sentences in a bribery scheme involving U.S. Postal Service contracts.
Prosecutors detailed how two USPS employees accepted about $1.5 million in kickbacks from trucking company owners to help obtain roughly $15 million in postal contracts.
Former USPS Senior Network Analyst Zechariah Yi, 52, and employee Tai Ryoung Rho, 51, both of Aurora, Colorado, collaborated with Wan Jin Yoon, 51, of Plano, Texas, and Hong Jin Yoon, 48, of Denver, who owned the benefiting trucking companies, court documents show.
“The defendants fraudulently secured a government contract in a scheme that involved paying kickbacks to government employees, who misused their positions of trust with the U.S. Postal Service for personal gain,” said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock.
Rho, Wan Yoon, and Hong Yoon each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. Yi pleaded guilty to receiving a bribe from a public official.
U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer imposed the sentences on March 26 and 27: 42 months for Yi, 30 months for Rho, 24 months for Wan Yoon, and three months for Hong Yoon.
The defendants also agreed to forfeit more than $300,000 in cash and two vehicles.
“The public must have confidence that Postal Service employees will conduct their work in an honest manner,” said Kevin Cloninger, Executive Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, per CBS News Texas. “When employees commit serious offenses, such as taking bribes, they will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted by Special Agents with the USPS OIG.”
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said the defendants “resorted to bribery and corruption simply to line their own pockets.”
Federal investigators described the case as underscoring efforts to combat public corruption and fraud at federal agencies.