Federal contractor pleads guilty to helping Afghans cheat to immigrate to U.S.

A federal contractor pleaded guilty this week to forging bogus recommendation letters for Afghans, helping them portray themselves as allies who aided the American war effort and who deserved to win special visas to reach the U.S.

Orlando Clark, 57, also pleaded guilty to bribery, admitting he worked with another contractor to steer business to an Afghan company in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs.

Clark worked for a U.S. company that managed Uncle Sam’s reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan, and used the position to help the Afghan company win bids to build a police station and a military checkpoint at higher rates — then accepted some of the overpayment as his price for the assistance.

Clark then used his position to sign at least a dozen false applications for the special immigrant visa, a pass aimed at Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort and whose lives are in danger because of that.

Prosecutors said Clark asserted that he supervised the 12 people and vouched for their work, and for their need to escape the country.

In fact, Clark wasn’t their supervisor and was being bribed to write the recommendations. Authorities said he charged about $1,500 per application.

When the State Department followed up to verify his recommendation letters, Clark claimed they were authentic.

“Clark’s materially false letters were presented to the Department of State and had the capacity to influence its decision-making in processing the applications for SIVs,” prosecutors said in court documents.

Clark’s fraud took place from 2015 to 2020.

The special visa is at the center of the controversy over Afghan evacuees brought out of Kabul during the chaotic airlift in the summer of 2021.

Though billed as a chance to rescue deserving Afghans who assisted the U.S., in reality most of the airlift passengers had no authentic connection to the war effort. Still, they were brought to the U.S. with cursory vetting.

Clark’s fraud exposes another vulnerability stemming from fraudulent claims.

A Navy Reserve officer was charged last year with a similar scheme.

Jeromy Pittman, a commander in the reserve, signed more than 20 letters vouching for Afghans he hadn’t supervised, according to investigators who said he charged $500 for each bogus letter.

For his part, Clark combined his visa fraud with contract fraud.

Along with Todd T. Coleman, another federal contractor, they supplied the Afghan company with inside information helping it to craft its bids for work, according to prosecutors.

In one case, based on that inside information, the Afghan company increased its bid for work from $530,000 to more than $620,000, knowing it would still be the winning bidder. Prosecutors said the additional $90,000 was then kicked back to Mr. Coleman and Clark.

Clark bought two BMWs with his share, while Mr. Coleman bought one BMW, prosecutors said.