A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia returned an indictment April 21 charging six former employees of a government contractor for their role in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a U.S. government contract to recruit and deploy qualified linguists to Afghanistan where they would provide language services in Dari and Pashto to the U.S. military, including interacting with Afghan civilians and military forces.
According to court documents, Mezghan N. Anwari, 41, of Centerville, Virginia, Abdul Q. Latifi, 45, of Irvine, California, Mahjoba Raofi, 47, of San Diego, California, Laila Anwari, 54, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Rafi M. Anwari, 54, of Centerville, Virginia, and Zarghona Alizai, 48, of Annandale, Virginia, were employed as linguist recruiters for the Arlington, Virginia-based government contractor, which performed subcontract services such as recruiting linguists to serve in support of U.S. military operations, pursuant to a U.S. government prime contract valued in excess of $700 million.
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“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants exploited the trust placed in them by the U.S. military and recruited unqualified linguists to be deployed to Afghanistan,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh for the Eastern District of Virginia in a release. “We are committed to holding accountable those who undermine the integrity of the procurement process and potentially jeopardize the United States’ mission overseas.”
The indictment alleges that the defendants knowingly recruited linguists who lacked minimum language proficiency in Dari or Pashto.
“The defendants arranged for other individuals with stronger language skills to fraudulently impersonate the unqualified linguist candidates during oral proficiency interviews, which were tests independently conducted by another government contractor to ensure that candidates identified by the defendants met minimum proficiency standards,” the release states.
The defendants themselves sometimes fraudulently impersonated candidates during interviews. They also received a base salary plus a series of incentive-based bonuses determined by how far through a multi-step vetting process a recruited candidate progressed.
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“The defendants in this case allegedly engaged in an expansive conspiracy to enrich themselves at the expense of American soldiers and military operations in Afghanistan,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
Mezghan Anwari is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and six counts of wire fraud. Latifi is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. Raofi is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Laila Anwari is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Rafi Anwari is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud. Alizai is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of wire fraud.
The defendants are scheduled for arraignment on May 5, before U.S. District Court Judge Anthony J. Trenga in the Eastern District of Virginia. If convicted, each of the defendants face a maximum of 20 years in prison per count.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.
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