Four people were sentenced to a total of 99 months in federal prison for their roles in a bribery scheme involving United States Postal Service contracts, according to an April 7 announcement from United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould.
The case involved two former USPS employees and two trucking company owners who conspired to secure postal service contracts through illegal payments. Prosecutors said the defendants solicited and received about $1.5 million in kickbacks from trucking companies in exchange for helping them obtain USPS service contracts worth approximately $15 million.
Zechariah Yi, a former Senior Network Analyst for the USPS, and Tai Ryoung Rho, both from Aurora, Colorado, admitted their involvement. Wan Jin Yoon of Plano, Texas, and Hong Jin Yoon of Denver, Colorado—owners of the implicated trucking companies—also pleaded guilty. On March 26 and March 27, U.S. District Judge Karen Gren Scholer sentenced Yi to 42 months in prison; Rho to 30 months; Wan Yoon to 24 months; and Hong Yoon to three months. The defendants agreed to forfeit two vehicles and more than $300,000 cash.
“At the expense of the integrity and fairness of the government contracting process, these defendants resorted to bribery and corruption simply to line their own pockets,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould. “The diligent work of our law enforcement partners led to a successful prosecution of these fraudsters by my office. This outcome should serve as a warning to others contemplating such behavior, that we will hold every person accountable for fraud schemes of this nature.”
Kevin Cloninger, Executive Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General said: “The public must have confidence that Postal Service employees will conduct their work in an honest manner… When employees commit serious offenses… they will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted by Special Agents with the USPS OIG.” FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock added: “The defendants fraudulently secured a government contract… The FBI remains committed to holding accountable individuals that defraud the United States government.”
The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office along with agents from the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.
