Former USDA official sentenced in bribery case

Richard Holman, the former chief of the Agriculture Department Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Coordination, Physical Security Division, was sentenced Tuesday to 180 days of home detention and fined $110,000 for carrying out a multi-year scheme in which he accepted bribes in exchange for ensuring the awarding of USDA contracts, the Justice Department said in a news release.

The release said, “According to court papers, between July 2013 and December 2015, Eric Schneider and Communications Resources Inc. (CRI) gave Holman and other USDA officials Corvette wheels, concert tickets, PGA tour tickets, meals, alcohol, strip clubs, parking, concierge medical services, prescription drugs, and other cash tips. In exchange, Holman gave Eric Schneider and CRI preferential treatment in the award of USDA contracts worth over $19 million. As part of the scheme, CRI employees drafted procurement documents in such a way as to favor the award of a multi-million-dollar contract to CRI, and USDA officials used the documents in the procurement process as if they prepared them.”

–The Hagstrom Report