Former FBI agent admits he took bribes for giving info on Bangladeshi politician

A former FBI agent has admitted to taking bribes from a Bangladeshi national in exchange for confidential information about a probe into a politician of Bangladesh.

New York Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 24 Dec 2014, 05:41 PM
Updated : 24 Dec 2014, 06:05 PM

Robert Lustyik on Tuesday pleaded guilty to the charge for the bribe transaction before New York’s Southern District Court’s Judge Vincent L Briccetti, US Attorney Preet Bharara said.

In a statement, he said: “Lustyik betrayed our system of justice. He breached not only the law, but also his sworn oath, and the great trust and confidence placed in him by citizens and colleagues.”

Attorney Bharara’s spokesperson Jennifer Queliz told bdnews24.com that Lustyik had accepted all allegations -- bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud, and theft of government information.

The court will decide his punishment on Apr 30, Queliz said adding that the crimes he committed were condemnable to 17 years in prison.

On Oct 17, Bangladeshi-born Rizve Ahmed, aka Caesar, 35, and his acquaintance Johannes Thaler, 51, pleaded guilty to offering bribe to Lustyik at the same court.

US Department of Justice, however, did not divulge for whose information the bribe transaction was taking place.

Caesar is the son Mohammad Ullah Mamun, central committee vice-president of BNP’s associate organisation Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha (Jasas), living in Fairfield County of Connecticut in the USA.

Caesar and Thaler were arrested in August in the bribery case.

Thaler was Lustyik’s childhood friend, and Caesar was Thaler’s acquaintance.

Thaler and Caesar live in Connecticut and worked in a retail store. The complaint identifies Caesar’s intended victim as ‘Individual 1’.

The bribery involving the Bangladeshi was exposed when Lustyik was in custody in a similar case.

The Department of Justice earlier said in a statement that Lustyik began the bribery scheme in Sept 2011 while working for the FBI’s counterintelligence squad in its White Plain’s office in New York. The scheme lasted until March 2012.
“Ahmed sought confidential law enforcement information, including a Suspicious Activity Report, pertaining to a Bangladeshi political figure affiliated with a political party opposing Ahmed’s views,” it said.
It said Caesar paid at least $1,000 to the two other men for information that included a suspicious activity report handed over to him by Thaler at a Danbury food court on Dec 9, 2011.
“Ahmed also sought assistance in dismissing criminal charges against a different Bangladeshi political figure,” said the Department of Justice.
It added that Lustyik “agreed to provide official assistance to interfere with the investigation”.
Multiple text messages between Thaler and Lustyik were cited as evidence which indicate that the two planned to put pressure on Caesar to get extra money for the information.
Lustyik and Thaler, the charges said, sought $40,000 as advance and $30,000 per month for the ‘contract’ to dig up confidential information on 'Individual 1'.
Lustyik, from a prominent Tarrytown family, retired from the FBI after 24 years in service on the eve of his indictment in Utah on a separate federal bribery scheme.