Former FBI Management and Program Analyst Sentenced for Bribery of a Public Official and Making and Subscribing a False Federal Income Tax Return

On April 6, 2021, a former FBI Management and Program Analyst was sentenced to 39 months of imprisonment and ordered to pay $15,353 in restitution for one count of bribery of a public official and one count of making and subscribing a false federal income tax return.  James Heslep was charged and pleaded guilty in the District of Idaho.  According to the factual statement in support of the guilty plea, Heslep was responsible for oversight of construction and service contracts for FBI buildings across the country, and from in or about 2016 through in or about 2018, Heslep corruptly demanded and received something of value personally, in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act.  Specifically, Heslep admitted to receiving payments of $120,000, a beach house rental, sports tickets, a fiftieth birthday party, first class airline and train tickets, and other items of value from an individual identified as R.B., who owned a company called L-1.  Heslep further admitted that in exchange for the items of value, Heslep recommended that the FBI directly pay the lodging per diem payments for L-1 employees who stayed at R.B.’s Pocatello, Idaho residence; provided a draft Statement of Work (SOW) for a bridge contract for the FBI’s Pocatello Data Center project to R.B., whose edits were then incorporated in the final bridge contract, but did not send the draft SOW to other potential bidders on the bridge contract; and advocated for increased labor rates for the bridge contract that would benefit R.B. and L-1, among other official acts.  In addition, Heslep admitted that on or about October 13, 2018, he signed and caused to be filed a Form 1040 federal income tax return for tax year 2017 which he knew contained false information in that it did not report income Heslep received from R.B. and L-1.  The investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Denver Field Office and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division; forensic assistance was provided by the OIG’s Cyber Investigations Office.