California Man Pleads Guilty in $100 Million-Plus Fraud Scheme Targeting U.S.-Funded Energy Sector Projects in Afghanistan

Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John F. Sopko announced today that Saed Ismail Amiri, of Granite Bay, California, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for his role in a scheme to defraud the government of Afghanistan of more than $100 million in a contract designed to construct an electric grid in that war-torn country.

Court documents describe Amiri, 38, as owner or senior consultant of Assist Consultants Incorporated (ACI), an Afghan company that had received more than $250 million in U.S.- funded contracts in Afghanistan since 2013. Amiri pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a SIGAR-led case centered on U.S.-funded efforts to construct five electric power substations to connect Afghanistan’s Northeastern and Southeastern electric grid systems.