A Maryland man pleaded guilty yesterday to accepting cash bribes in exchange for helping acquaintances and their businesses procure and continue work on subcontracts with the IRS.
According to court documents, Satbir Thukral, 62, of Germantown, worked for the IRS as a computer engineer and supervised various information technology contracts. In September 2018, Company 1 began working on a subcontract for the IRS that Thukral supervised. Starting in October 2018, Thukral sought cash payments from Company 1’s owner, Individual 1, constituting a portion of the earnings from Company 1’s work on the IRS subcontract. Between 2018 and 2020, Individual 1 made multiple cash payments to Thukral totaling more than $120,000. In February 2021, when Individual 1 told Thukral that Individual 1 would not pay any more money, Thukral attempted to extort Individual 1 by threatening that Individual 1 would suffer economic consequences if the payments did not continue. In early February 2023, Individual 1 recorded an in-person meeting with Thukral at the direction of law enforcement. During the meeting, Individual 1 told Thukral that the FBI had asked about bank withdrawals that Individual 1 had made to pay Thukral, and Thukral instructed Individual 1 to lie to the FBI about the nature of the cash withdrawals. Later that same day, to assist and induce Individual 1 to lie to the FBI and to further concealment of the payments, Thukral returned a portion of the proceeds that he had received from Individual 1.
In a separate scheme in July 2022, Thukral received approximately $2,800 in cash from a manager at a prime contractor with the IRS. The manager made the payment partly in return for Thukral’s facilitating continued employment of two underqualified individuals at two other IRS subcontractors with whom the manager had an affiliation. Additionally, at the time of payment, the manager believed that Thukral could influence valuations on an upcoming IRS contract valued at approximately $200 million due to his position on a three-person panel evaluating technical feasibility bids.
Thukral pleaded guilty to acceptance of bribes by a public official. He faces a maximum penalty of up to fifteen years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri announced this development alongside U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron for Maryland District; David Sundberg of FBI Washington Field Office; and Andrew McKay from Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
The FBI and TIGTA are investigating this case.
Trial Attorney Matt Kahn from Criminal Division’s Fraud Section along with Assistant U.S Attorneys Elizabeth Wright & Christopher Sarma are prosecuting it.
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