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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

5 Years for Bribery in Pentagon Contracts

DALLAS (CN) - South Korean businessman Gi-Hwan Jeong was setenced to 5 years in federal prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy involving a $206 million telecommunications contract and employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.

U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade also fined Jeong $50,000.

Jeong pleaded guilty in June to a five-count indictment, charging him with one count of conspiracy, two counts of honest services wire fraud and two counts of bribery. Jeong bribed employees of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) to win and keep the contract for his company, Samsung Rental Ltd.

Operated by the Pentagon, the AAFES provides retail merchandise and services to armed forces service members and their families at U.S. military installations around the world. It operates more than 3,100 facilities, including retail stores, fast food joints and movie theatres.

According to court documents, from 2001 to 2006, Jeong conspired with two AAFES officials, Henry Lee Holloway and Clifton Choy, among others, to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud. Jeong agreed to pay cash, travel and entertainment expenses, among other things. Jeong admitted he bribed Choi with $80,000 from 2001 to 2005.

"Prior to AAFES' award of the telecommunications contract to SSRT in 2001, Choy used his official position to gain access to confidential bid proposal information that competing bidders had submitted to AAFES and passed information to Jeong, who used it to ensure that SSRT submitted the winning bid," the Department of Justice said in a statement after this week's sentencing.

"Shortly after AAFES awarded the contract to SSRT, Jeong admitted paying $20,000 in cash to Choy, who passed away in 2008."

Jeong also admitted paying $70,000 in bribes to Holloway from May 2003 to April 2005 to curry favor with Holloway, who, as an AAFES general store manager for South Korea, was in a position to terminate the AAFES' contract with SSRT after allegations of problems with the company. After Jeong began paying Holloway, according to court documents, Holloway used official acts and influence to support the contract between SSRT and AAFES.

Holloway, 42, of Hamilton, Ga., pleaded guilty in the Middle District of Georgia in April for his role in the conspiracy and for not reporting the bribes on his income tax returns. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16.

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