Two Former KBR Employees Charged in Scheme to Defraud the Department of Defense

WASHINGTON – A grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia has returned an indictment charging two former employees of Kellogg Brown and Root, Inc. (KBR) Fuel Section with conspiracy to defraud the Department of Defense, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.

James N. Sellman, 31, of Raeford, N.C., and Wallace A. Ward, 25, Columbus, Ga., were charged yesterday in a seven-count indictment with conspiracy, making a false writing, bribery, and making a false claim to the Department of Defense. The indictment alleges that between May and September 2006, while assigned to oversee fuel deliveries to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, Sellman and Ward conspired to accept bribes from Afghan truck drivers in return for falsifying government documents indicating receipt of the fuel and then diverting over 80 truckloads of fuel for sale outside the airfield. According to the indictment, the conspiracy involved over 784,000 gallons of fuel valued at more than $2.1 million.

Both defendants face a maximum of five years in prison on each count.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Hanly of the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney James J. Graham of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, U.S. Department of Justice. The investigation is being handled by Special Agents from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division in Virginia and Afghanistan.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.