Virginia Businessman Sentenced to Prison for Bribing District of Columbia Tax Official, Who Was Working with Authorities

Defendant Caught After Making $10,000 Payment

WASHINGTON—Jamal Hadieh, also known as Jason Hacen, was sentenced today to five months in prison, to be followed by five months of home confinement, in connection with his payment of a bribe to a District of Columbia tax auditor. Unbeknownst to Hadieh, the tax auditor was cooperating with law enforcement at the time of the bribe.

The sentencing, which took place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Natwar M. Gandhi, Chief Financial Officer for the District of Columbia.

Hadieh, 51, of Chantilly, Virginia, pled guilty in December 2011 to one count of bribery of a public official. He was sentenced by the Honorable Richard W. Roberts. Upon completion of his sentence, Hadieh will be placed on one year of supervised release.

According to a statement of offense agreed to by the government and Hadieh, Hadieh was the president of Quantum Services, Inc., which had an office in McLean, Virginia. Quantum provided building maintenance services for commercial buildings and hotels to include marble restoration, commercial kitchen cleaning, and overall janitorial services. For the years 2006 through 2009, Quantum did not pay all of the taxes that the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) determined Quantum owed the District of Columbia.

A tax auditor for OTR met with Hadieh on October 27, 2009, to conduct a tax audit of Quantum. The tax auditor could not complete the audit because Hadieh did not have all of the necessary documents, and so the tax auditor and Hadieh agreed to meet again once the documents were available. At the conclusion of the meeting, Hadieh attempted to give the tax auditor an envelope containing money, which the tax auditor refused to accept. After leaving Quantum, the tax auditor reported the incident to his supervisor, and law enforcement was notified. The tax auditor agreed to cooperate with law enforcement.

Hadieh and the tax auditor met on November 17, 2009, at Quantum’s office to complete the audit. During this meeting, Hadieh offered to give the tax auditor $7,000 in order to “wrap this up, close the books, and move forward.” The tax auditor estimated that Hadieh’s tax debt might be $100,000. Hadieh offered to give the tax auditor $10,000 that day if the tax auditor would limit the tax debt to $60,000. Hadieh and the tax auditor agreed to meet again so that Hadieh could give money to the tax auditor. On November 20, 2009, Hadieh met with the tax auditor in the parking lot of a restaurant in Northeast Washington, where Hadieh gave the tax auditor an envelope containing $10,000 in United States currency.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen, Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin and Chief Financial Officer Gandhi commended the investigative efforts of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Integrity and Oversight. They also praised the work of members of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Legal Assistant Jared Forney, former Paralegal Specialist Mary Treanor, Assistant U.S. Attorney David J. Gorman, who assisted with the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Seeley, who prosecuted the case.