Former IT Executive Sentenced for Stealing $1.3 Million from Charity

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Demetrius Arnold Washington, Jr., 51, of Louisa, was sentenced today to 45 months in prison for a mail fraud and money laundering scheme in which he stole more than $1.3 million from his former employer, a charitable foundation in Virginia.  Washington was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay full restitution in the amount of $1,341,755.

Washington pleaded guilty on May 13.  According to court documents, from April 2011 to June 2015, Washington was the Chief of Information Systems for the foundation, a private non-profit entity dedicated to supporting promising students who exhibit financial need by providing financial assistance through scholarships and grants.  Washington was responsible for selecting outside IT vendors to perform work for the foundation.  One such vendor was DAJX-IT Consulting. Washington was, in fact, the owner of DAJX, a company he created around the time he began working for the Foundation.  Washington concealed his relationship with DAJX from the Foundation and used DAJX to submit fraudulent invoices to the Foundation for work which was never completed, using names of friends, relatives, and acquaintances who had never heard of DAJX or completed any IT work.  Washington also doctored invoices of an outside vendor by doubling the vendor’s rates, paying the vendor for her original invoice, and then pocketing the difference.  To further conceal his scheme, Washington created a fake identity who claimed was the President of DAJX and corresponded with the Foundation using an email address bearing the fictitious persona’s name.  In total, Washington embezzled $1,341,755 from the Foundation.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Terrence P. McKeown, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Thomas Jankowski, Special Agent in Charge, Washington D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jamar K. Walker and Michael S. Dry prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 1:16-cr-105.