WASHINGTON — A senior finance official at the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) has agreed to plead guilty to accepting cash payments from a government contractor and lying to federal investigators about the arrangement, the Justice Department announced.
Mathieu Zahui, 59, of Fairfax, Virginia, the Director of Financial Management at USADF, was charged by criminal information and will plead guilty to one count of accepting illegal gratuities and one count of making a false statement to federal law enforcement officers.
Prosecutors say Zahui abused his position by steering agency funds to a contractor he had known for more than two decades in exchange for cash payments, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in inflated invoices.
According to court documents, Zahui arranged for USADF payments to vendors to be routed through a Kenya-based company, identified in filings as Company-1, which was owned by a U.S. government contractor referred to as CC-1. Instead of paying vendors directly, Zahui directed them to invoice Company-1, which then billed USADF with markups despite performing little or no work.
In one example, when USADF needed to settle a past-due bill to a staffing vendor, Zahui instructed the vendor to invoice Company-1. Company-1 then billed USADF for the amount owed plus more than $20,000 in added charges, which Zahui approved even though the company provided no related services.
Prosecutors said Company-1 submitted more than 20 pass-through invoices between June 2020 and December 2023. USADF paid at least $617,625.49 to the company, of which $134,886.34 was retained as markup, with markups ranging from 17% to 66%. In return, Zahui accepted $12,000 in cash payments from CC-1, authorities said.
The conduct was not disclosed to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which oversees and authorizes USADF’s external payments. Investigators also say Zahui helped submit false descriptions on invoices, claiming Company-1 provided “logistical support” when it did not.
In another instance, prosecutors said USADF owed a $50,000 membership fee to a professional networking organization serving the African diaspora. Rather than paying the fee directly, Zahui directed Company-1 to submit an invoice that included the fee plus a markup of $9,900.08, falsely describing the charge as “logistical assistance support for ADF.”
When questioned by federal agents in 2024 about his relationship with CC-1, Zahui denied receiving any benefits, despite having accepted $12,000 in cash, according to court filings.
Zahui has agreed to plead guilty to accepting gratuities from a contractor and making a false statement. He faces up to two years in prison on the gratuities charge and up to five years on the false statement charge. A federal judge will schedule the plea hearing and later determine sentencing under federal guidelines.
Justice Department officials said the case underscores the government’s focus on policing corruption in foreign assistance programs and protecting taxpayer funds from abuse.
