WASHINGTON - A 46-year-old former Health Development Officer with the United States Agency for International Development (“USAID”), Michael J. Andreini, pleaded guilty today to one count of Making a False Statement for submitting a fictitious receipt to USAID in support of a travel voucher, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Adrienne R. Rish, USAID Assistant Inspector General for Investigations. The Honorable Deborah A. Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia presided over the plea hearing. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 26, 2010. Andreini faces up to six months of incarceration under the voluntary federal sentencing guidelines.
According to the government’s evidence, in September 2008, Andreini was hired by USAID to be a Health Development Officer in Juba, Sudan. From October 8, 2008, through October 31, 2008, Andreini lived in a residence in Kenya while awaiting approval to travel to Sudan. Andreini did not receive, or pay, any invoices from USAID for lodging at the Kenyan residence for that time period. Nonetheless, on February 28, 2009, Andreini submitted a travel voucher to USAID in which he claimed lodging expenses in the amount of $4,378 for the time period of October 9, 2008, through October 31, 2008. Later, on March 24, 2009, Andreini submitted a fictitious receipt to USAID. The receipt purported to be from Tipuana Hotel and Suites in Kenya and was addressed to Andreini. The receipt indicated that Andreini incurred accommodations and other charges in the amount of Ksh 393,750 (approximately $5,180.92 USD) while staying in Suite A4 at the Tipuana Hotel and Suites from October 9, 2008, to November 2, 2008. The receipt stated that these charges were paid in full on November 3, 2008. In fact, Andreini never stayed at the Tipuana Hotel and Suites in Kenya in October and November 2008. Additionally, Andreini never paid Ksh 393,750 to the Tipuana Hotel and Suites on November 3, 2008, and never received a receipt in the amount of Ksh 393,750 from the Tipuana Hotel and Suites.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Machen and USAID Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Rish commended the outstanding investigative work of the agents of the USAID Office of Inspector General. They also praised the efforts of Legal Assistant Jamasee Lucas and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Johnson, who is prosecuting the case.