Army official sold the public trust for a half-million dollars in bribes
On October 24, 2014, In Seon Lim, a former contracting official for the U.S. Department of the Army, was sentenced to four years in prison by the Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Lim, 48, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, pled guilty to three offenses in July 2014: conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud; bribery; and attempting to interfere with and impede tax laws.
Lim accepted more than $490,000 in benefits from companies, in exchange for helping them win favorable treatment and millions of dollars in federal government contracts. He is one of 18 individuals and one corporation, Nova Datacom, LLC, to plead guilty to federal charges in the largest domestic bribery and bid-rigging scheme in the history of federal contracting cases. Participants in the scheme stole over $30 million in government money through inflated and fictitious invoices.
Lim admitted that he used his official position to enrich himself by soliciting and accepting gifts, payments and other things of value from government contractors—totaling more than $490,000—in return for favorable official action. Lim received these bribes personally, as well as having them sent to accounts that he controlled. He received payments for travel, vacation, vehicles, cellphones and cellular service for himself and family members; ownership interests in two companies; golf clubs, female escorts and other types of bribes.
