Former Member of the Air Force Pleads Guilty to Multi-Year Bid Rigging Schemes and Conspiracy to Defraud U.S. Air Force

# Former Air Force Master Sergeant Pleads Guilty to $37 Million Fraud Scheme

Alan Hayward James, 51, a former active-duty Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery, and bid rigging spanning nine years. The scheme involved fraudulently inflating the cost of information technology contracts for U.S. Pacific Air Forces installations, resulting in at least $37 million in overcharges to the Department of War.

James and his co-conspirators used excess funds from inflated bids to enrich themselves and channel bribes to a federal public official within PACAF. The defendant, from Texas, has agreed to pay over $1.4 million in restitution. Federal prosecutors emphasized that the bid-rigging scheme harmed honest companies competing for government contracts and diverted critical resources from military services essential to national defense.

The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Hawaii and the Justice Department's Antitrust Division Procurement Collusion Strike Force, with assistance from the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General's Criminal Investigative Service.