Ex-FBI agent pleads guilty

A former FBI special agent has pleaded guilty before a US court to bribery over confidential information about a prominent Bangladeshi citizen -- believed to be Sajeeb Wazed Joy, son of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.  

The accused, Robert Lustyik, and his co-defendant Johannes Thaler solicited payments of money from Bangladeshi Rizve Ahmed to get the internal information to which the former FBI special agent had access because of his position, according to a recent news release of the US Department of Justice.

Rizve is the son of a BNP leader in the US.

The ex-FBI agent pleaded guilty in White Plains federal court to all the five counts with which he is charged, including bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud, and theft of government property.

"Robert Lustyik discarded the FBI's principles of fidelity, bravery and integrity, and sold his badge to the highest bidder," Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Criminal Division Leslie R Caldwell, was quoted in the statement as saying.

United States District Judge Vincent L Briccetti is scheduled to pronounce Lustyik's prison sentence on April 30 next year.

The statement also said Lustyik worked on counterintelligence unit in the White Plains Resident Agency.

From in or about September 2011 through March 2012, he, Thaler and Rizve, also known as Caesar, got engaged in the bribery scheme.

As part of the scheme, Lustyik and Thaler exchanged text messages, including messages on how to pressure Rizve to pay them additional money in exchange for the confidential information.

In one of his texts, Lustyik told Thaler, “We need to push [Rizve] for this meeting and get that 40 gs [G=1,000] quick … I will talk us into getting the cash … I will work my magic … we r soooooo close."

The statement does not mention the name of the Bangladeshi prominent citizen but addressed him as “Individual 1”.

“Ahmed [Rizve] perceived himself to be on the opposite side of a political rivalry with Individual 1. Ahmed [Rizve] sought, among other things, to obtain information about Individual 1, to locate Individual 1, and to harm Individual 1 and others associated with Individual 1,” it said.

Thaler and Rizve previously pleaded guilty to bribery and conspiracy to commit fraud, and are scheduled to be sentenced on January 23 next year.