A former Orange County resident faces up to 20 years behind bars at sentencing in August for his role in a scheme to defraud the government of Afghanistan out of more than $100 million.
The funds were provided to Afghanistan by the U.S. Agency for International Development for the purpose of constructing an electric grid there, in connection with the long-standing U.S. effort to strengthen that country’s basic infrastructure.
Saed Ismail Amiri, 38, who currently lives in Granite Bay in Placer County, California, but until last year was a resident of Irvine, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Los Angeles to one federal count of wire fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr. set sentencing for Aug. 10.
Prosecutors said Amiri was part of a scheme to fraudulently attempt to obtain a contract to construct electric power substations to connect Afghanistan’s northeastern and southeastern electric grid systems. In the attempt, Amiri submitted a false work history and fraudulent supporting documents to deceive the country’s national power utility into believing his company met the required criteria.