Corruption
Ex-FBI
agent pleads guilty to bribery charges, faces 17-year prison sentence
Published time: December 24, 2014 19:00
AFP Photo/Lucy Nicholson
A
former FBI agent pleaded guilty on Tuesday to bribery charges in which he and a
confidant attempted to offer someone confidential information about a
Bangladeshi politician in exchange for cash.
Robert Lustyik, 52, admitted all charges levied
against him, including bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud, and theft of
government property. He now faces up to 17 years in prison, according to The Journal
News.
“Robert Lustyik today admitted to
conducting a bribery scheme in which, for his own personal gain, he secretly
sold information and documents to which he had access as an FBI agent,” US Attorney Preet
Bharara of the Southern District of New York said in a statement. "Lustyik
betrayed our system of justice: He breached not only the law, but also his
sworn oath, and the great trust and confidence placed in him by citizens and
colleagues.”
Lustyik,
his cohort Johannes Thaler, and Rizve Ahmed were charged in August 2013 for
attempting, from around September 2011 through March 2012, to collect damaging
information about an unidentified Bangladeshi politician in exchange for
bribes.
Ahmed, known as ‘Caesar,’ paid Lustyik and Thaler for
the information. Ahmed "perceived himself to be on the opposite
side of a political rivalry" with the political figure and was
seeking to “harm” him and his associates, according to prosecutors.
Lustyik and Thaler would trade text messages about the
scheme, prosecutors said. At one point, Lustyik is alleged to have told Thaler: "We
need to push [Ahmed] for this meeting and get that 40 gs quick...I will talk us
into getting the cash...I will work my magic...We r sooooooo close."
Thaler answered: "I know. It's all right
there in front of us. Pretty soon we'll be having lunch in our oceanfront
restaurant..."
Lustyik “pleaded guilty to all five counts in
the indictment against him,” according to the US Justice Department
statement, “including conspiracy to engage in a bribery scheme,
soliciting bribes by a public official, conspiracy to defraud the citizens of
the United States and the FBI, theft of government property, and unauthorized
disclosure of a Suspicious Activity Report.”
Lustyik’s
sentencing is scheduled for April 30, 2015. He remains free on a $1.5 million
bond, though he has agreed to surrender on Feb. 15, according to The New
Journal. He faces a maximum of 55 years in prison, though sentencing guidelines
call for between 13 and 17 ½ years.
"Robert Lustyik discarded the FBI's
principles of 'fidelity, bravery and integrity,' and sold his badge to the
highest bidder," Assistant US Attorney General Leslie
R. Caldwell said in the statement.
Thaler,
51, and Ahmed, 35, had already pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy to
commit fraud in the case. They face and maximum sentence of 35 years in prison
and are set to be sentenced on Jan. 23.
Lustyik,
a 24-year FBI agent originally from upstate New York, retired in 2012 just
before being indicted in a separate federal bribery scheme based in Utah.
Thaler, formerly an employee of Macy’s, also pleaded guilty in that case.
Lustyik
will be sentenced in the Utah case come March. He admitted to a plan in which
he accepted at least $200,000 to block a federal investigation of a defense
contractor, attempting to designate the contractor as a government informant.
Thaler admitted to acting as a messenger between Lustyik and Michael Taylor,
who was suspected of impropriety involving a $54 million contract in Afghanistan.
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