Former FBI Contractor Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to Investigators

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A former FBI contractor pleaded guilty today to making false statements to FBI agents in connection with an official FBI investigation. 

Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and Acting Inspector General April Stephenson of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General (DOE-OIG) made the announcement.

Arkadiy Zagaytov, 59, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate District Judge Robin M. Meriweather of the District of Columbia.  The defendant’s sentencing will be scheduled at a later date.

From June 2010 to October 2011 and September 2012 to August 2014, Zagaytov worked as an Oracle Database Administrator at the FBI Headquarters Information Technology Division and maintained Top Secret security clearance level for the entirety of his term at FBI.  On July 31, 2014, Zagaytov was interviewed by Special Agents of the FBI in connection with an official investigation.

According to admissions made in connection with his plea agreement, Zagaytov lied to investigators about a financial transaction that he facilitated in 2004 and 2005 between a senior DOE official and a private company doing business in the United States.  Specifically, at the request of the senior official, Zagaytov served as a conduit for purported “consulting” payments from the private company to the senior official.  Zagaytov prepared and submitted false invoices to the private company for up to $140,000 in services that he never rendered or performed.  Upon receiving payment from the private company and withholding a portion thereof to cover tax liabilities and other personal expenses, Zagaytov made several cash disbursements to the senior official.  During his interview with the FBI on July 31, 2014, Zagaytov denied making any such payments to the senior official.  Zagaytov also failed to disclose these transactions in his application for Top Secret clearance even though he was required to do so.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office and DOE-OIG investigated the case.  Trial Attorney Victor R. Salgado of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section is prosecuting the case.