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SIGIR Investigations continues to actively pursue allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse in Iraq, with
113 open investigations. SIGIR has 5 investigative personnel assigned to Baghdad; 12 at SIGIR
headquarters in Arlington, Virginia; and 16 in offices in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida,
Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan, New York, and California. This quarter, SIGIR placed a special
agent in Rome, New York, to support the Defense Finance and Accounting Service project, and
placed an auditor in Phoenix, Arizona, to support investigations in the Southwest and West. To date,
the work of SIGIR investigators has resulted in 26 arrests, 33 indictments, 25 convictions, and more
than $53 million in fines, forfeitures, recoveries, and restitution.
This quarter, SIGIR continued to conduct a number of significant criminal investigations related
to Iraq reconstruction and work closely with prosecutors, U.S. partner investigative agencies,
and Coalition partner investigators. As a result of SIGIR investigations, two defendants are pending
indictment based upon arrest complaints, seven defendants are awaiting trial, and an additional
four defendants are awaiting sentencing in a number of cases. For a comprehensive list of convictions
compiled by the Department of Justice, see Table 4.4 at the end of this section.
SIGIR notes these investigative activities this quarter:
- A Criminal Information was filed charging a U.S. Army staff sergeant with money laundering
as part of a larger bribery investigation.
- Major John Cockerham, Melissa Cockerham (his wife), Carolyn Blake (his sister), and Nyree Pettaway
(his niece) were all sentenced in U.S. District Court for their participation in a bribery and money-
laundering scheme related to bribes paid for contracts awarded in support of the Iraq war. The jail
sentences ranged from 12 to 210 months, and the court-ordered restitution totaled more than $19 million.
- A U.S. Army captain pled guilty in U.S. District Court to the theft of government property and
structuring financial transactions involving approximately $690,000 in CERP funds.
- A former U.S. Army colonel was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy in Hilla, Iraq.
- A former DoD contracting officer was sentenced to 110 months in prison for filing false income tax
returns in which he failed to report more than $2.4 million in income.
- The husband of a former U.S. Army officer was sentenced for laundering stolen money from Iraq.
- A retired U.S. Army major was sentenced to 57 months in prison for his role in a bribery scheme involving DoD contracts.
- A Coalition partner citizen was arrested for money laundering involving a Coalition Provisional Authority contract.
- A U.S. Army major was arrested after being indicted and charged with bulk cash smuggling and making false statements.
- A former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel was sentenced to 42 months in prison for his role in a bribery conspiracy in Hilla, Iraq.
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