UTAH – A former FBI special agent, who a prosecutor said “sold his badge” to “the highest bidder,” was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, according to authorities.
Specifically, Lustyik pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and obstruction, eight counts of honest services wire fraud, obstruction of a grand jury investigation and obstruction of an agency proceeding.
Lustyik’s co-defendants, Michael L. Taylor, 54, of Harvard, Massachusetts, and Johannes W. Thaler, 51, of New Fairfield, Connecticut, were also sentenced Monday to 24 months in prison and 13 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in this scheme.
U.S. District Senior Judge Tena Campbell of the District of Utah sentenced the trio.
Lustyik and Thaler both plead guilty for their involvement in a similar bribery scheme in New York. Thaler was sentenced to 30 months in prison in that case, and will serve the two sentences consecutively, officials said.
“These three defendants attempted to thwart a significant criminal investigation in Utah,” said U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen. “Two of these defendants were entrusted with protecting our citizens and upholding the law. Their conduct, in particular, stands in stark contrast to the integrity and sacrifice of the men and women in our military and law enforcement ranks and their sentences today send a powerful message that no one is above the law.”
According to court documents, these are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case:
- From October 2011 to September 2012, Lustyik and Thaler conspired to use Lustyik’s official position as an FBI counterintelligence special agent to obstruct a criminal investigation into Taylor, a businessman who owned and operated American International Security Corporation.
- Taylor was under investigation for allegedly paying kickbacks to obtain a series of contracts from the Department of Defense worth approximately $54 million.
- Taylor promised Lustyik and Thaler that, in exchange for their help, he would provide them cash and multimillion dollar business contracts.
- In an email message, Taylor told the two men, “I’ll make you guys more money than you can believe, provided they don’t think I’m a bad guy and put me in jail.”
Obstruction of Justice
According to court documents, Lustyik attempted to obstruct the investigation into Taylor by identifying Taylor as an official FBI confidential source in an effort to persuade the FBI, the Justice Department and the prosecutors and law enforcement agents in Utah that Taylor’s usefulness to the government outweighed the government’s interest in prosecuting him.
Indeed, Lustyik emphasized that indicting Taylor would threaten the nation’s security. Lustyik also sought to take steps to directly intervene in the investigation by interviewing key witnesses.
According to court documents, the defendants boasted about the success of their scheme.
In one email message, Lustyik wrote to Taylor, “The rate this is going. I will be indicted way before u ever are !!” Lustyik wrote separately to Thaler, “I can leave [the FBI] in June. But I’m afraid to if [Taylor] gets indicted n I’m not an agent I’m no help. Has he mentioned giving me‐u a salary?”
Taylor admitted at his plea hearing that, as part of this conspiracy, he offered Lustyik a six-figure salary and a share of the proceeds from various multi-million dollar business deals he was pursuing.
Acknowledging this, Lustyik wrote to Taylor, “Let’s just get Utah over with and get stinking rich,” to which Taylor replied, “Getting stinking rick [sic], we are well on the way with that so I have the ball.”
“Today’s sentencings represent important steps toward justice in this case,” said Inspector General Michael Horowitz. “Department of Justice employees and their associates must be held accountable when they abuse their authority and betray the public’s trust.”