FBI Agent Pleads Guilty to Collecting $25,000 in Pay for Hours He Didn't Work

A Little Rock, Ark.-based FBI special agent resigned from the government on Jan. 28 and pleaded guilty to embezzlement of government property by filing false certifications of his work hours.

Nizam Hasheem, a 10-year veteran, had been assigned temporarily to headquarters and the Washington field office from September 2016 to June 2017. In his biweekly certifications of his regular hours as well as his hours for special Law Enforcement Availability Pay, which provides a 25 percent bonus on top of salary plus a cost-of-living adjustment for working with local authorities, the “defendant regularly submitted false and fraudulent” information, the Justice Department said in a release.

The total of unworked hours in 2016 was 237.75, and in 2017, 136. The pay for those falsely claimed hours, deposited in Hasheem’s Navy Federal Credit Union account in Little Rock, was about $24,629.87.

“Defendant knew these certifications were false because he knew he had not worked the claimed regular and LEAP hours as represented,” the department said. In fact, the false filings were designed to disguise the fact that the defendant “had been away from his assigned work station, engaged in unauthorized conduct and personal activities not related to his job duties,” Justice added.

At his sentencing set for April 30, Hasheem could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Justice Department inspector general’s office and prosecuted by Missouri-based assistant to the U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith.