FILE - This Monday, April 4, 2011 file photo shows Russ Wasendorf, Sr., CEO of failed Peregrine Financial Group, Inc. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Wasendorf is expected to be sentenced Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 to prison for embezzling up to $215 million in funds that were supposed to be held separately to protect investors. (AP Photo/Waterloo Courier, Rick Chase, File)
Man who embezzled from USAID sentenced to prison
Published: 09:11:08 PM, Fri 01 March 2013 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for embezzling more than $1 million from a program to address global health problems like AIDS.
Mark Adams received a 51-month sentence, and his wife, Latasha Bell, received five years of probation, with the first six months to be served under home confinement. Both had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud last year.
The couple, of Fort Washington, Md., admitted to using the money to renovate their home and purchase a luxury car.
The two admitted that Adams used his position as a deputy director of a private contracting company to submit and approve false invoices. The invoices bilked USAID's global health program.
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