Ex‑Federal Finance Director Sentenced for Kickback Scheme Steering $600,000 in Contracts to a Friend

WASHINGTON - Mathieu Zahui, 59, the former Director of Financial Management at the U.S. African Development Foundation, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to four months in prison in connection with a multi-year scheme in which he steered federal contracts to a friend's company, accepted cash payments in return, and then lied to federal investigators about it, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.

"Mathieu Zahui spent fifteen years rising to the top of his agency's financial operations and then used that authority to steer taxpayer-funded contracts to a friend while pocketing cash for himself," said U.S. Attorney Pirro. "When federal agents sought answers, he didn't come clean; he doubled down with repeated lies. Public servants who betray the public trust and obstruct oversight will be held accountable."

Zahui, of Fairfax, Virginia, pleaded guilty on Feb. 23, 2026, before Chief Judge James E. Boasberg to one count of receiving a gratuity as a public official and to one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement. In addition to the four-month prison term, Judge Boasberg ordered Zahui to serve 12 months of supervised release. Federal prosecutors had requested a 21-month prison term.

According to court papers, the U.S. African Development Foundation is an independent federal agency established to support African-owned and African-led business enterprises. Zahui joined ADF as a budget analyst in 2010 and rose over fifteen years to become its Finance Director, serving in effect as the agency's chief financial officer with authority to review and approve invoices paid with taxpayer funds. Beginning in December 2020, he also served as ADF's Contracting Officer Representative, responsible for monitoring contractors' performance and processing invoices, and received specific training on his obligation to avoid conflicts of interest.

Rather than honor those obligations, Zahui used his position to benefit a friend and the friend's company. In March 2020, Zahui directed ADF to award his friend's company a series of sole-source contracts, exempting it from competitive bidding, for purported logistical support services that the company never actually performed. The contracts, valued at about $173,640, $350,544, and $93,200, far exceeded the $100,000 cap on sole-source awards. Zahui approved invoices submitted by the company knowing they were illegitimate and unsupported by any actual work.

Zahui also arranged for other ADF contractors doing legitimate work to route their payments through his friend's company, allowing the friend to collect markups ranging from 17% to 66% for doing nothing. In one instance, Zahui directed a staffing company to issue a $120,000 invoice to his friend's company, which had no involvement in the underlying work. The friend's company then submitted a $140,653 invoice to ADF, and Zahui approved it, generating more than a $20,000 markup.

Over about three years, the friend's company submitted more than 20 such pass-through invoices and collected about $134,886 in markups for performing no legitimate work.

To avoid scrutiny from the Bureau of Fiscal Service, which was responsible for authorizing ADF payments, Zahui ensured that invoices consistently described the services as logistical support, even when they had nothing to do with logistics. In one instance, he directed another contractor to revise an invoice description to falsely reflect logistical services.

In return for steering the contracts and approving the fraudulent invoices, Zahui received $12,000 in eight separate cash payments from his friend.

When federal agents interviewed Zahui in January 2024, he denied receiving any benefits from his friend and downplayed the extent of their relationship, claiming they communicated only a few times a year. Phone records and emails later revealed they had in fact communicated nearly every day during some periods. In a second interview in February 2024, Zahui again lied to federal agents. The full extent of his conduct came to light only after investigators conducted an extensive review of his phone, emails, and ADF records.

As part of his sentence, Zahui was ordered to pay a criminal forfeiture money judgment of $12,000.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General (USAID-OIG), a statutorily independent law enforcement agency which has continued jurisdiction to investigate criminal activity affecting ongoing U.S. foreign assistance programs, including those administered by ADF.

The matter was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sungtae Kang and former Assistant Chief Kyle Hankey of the Criminal Division's Fraud Section.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.

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