Former Army Reserve officer sentenced to 10 years in prison on bribery, conspiracy and money launderingAssistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today a former major in the U.S. Army Reserve was sentenced for conspiracy, bribery and money laundering in connection with the fraudulent awarding and administration of U.S. government contracts in Balad, Iraq. The case was jointly investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement agencies.
John Allen Rivard, 48, was sentenced in federal court in Austin, Texas, by U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks of the Western District of Texas, to 120 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Judge Sparks also entered a $1 million preliminary order of forfeiture and ordered Rivard to pay a $5,000 fine. Rivard was taken into custody immediately following sentencing.
On July 25, Rivard admitted that from April 2004 through August 2005, while he was deployed to Logistical Support Area Anaconda near Balad, Iraq, he conspired with a government contractor to steer federally funded contracts to the contractor's company in exchange for a bribe payment in the amount of 5 percent of the value of the contract awarded. Rivard awarded multi-million dollar contracts to the government contractor's company for construction and housing-related items necessary to the efforts of United States military personnel in the region. The total value of the contracts awarded was approximately $21 million.