State Department Thief

A former State Department contract specialist has pleaded guilty to funneling millions of dollars to a company she set up with her husband. Kathleen McGrade worked in the State Department office that awards contracts for construction on U.S. embassies. She never told anyone that she had opened a construction company with her husband. She negotiated nearly $53 million in contracts with the company, Sterling Royale Group. A news article in 2011 exposed the fraud. It revealed McGrade and her husband had bought houses, a yacht and other luxury items on the State Department's dime. McGrade and her husband, Brian Collingsworth, have agreed to forfeit the items. They face up to 30 years in prison each.