Navy officer gets prison time for role in Afghan visa bribery scheme

An officer in the Navy Reserves will serve 30 months in prison for his role in a bribery scheme to provide unknown Afghan nationals visas to the United States.

Cmdr. Jeromy Pittmann, a 53-year-old civil engineer corps officer who deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015 with NATO Special Operations Command, accepted thousands of dollars for drafting, submitting and falsely verifying phony letters of recommendation for Afghan nationals pursuing a Special Immigrant Visa, according to the Justice Department.

Afghans who worked with U.S. troops and diplomats as translators are eligible for a limited number of Special Immigrant Visas from the State Department each year, allowing them to live in the U.S.

Pittmann personally signed off on more than 20 letters in which he vouched for Afghan national visa applicants, claiming they had served as interpreters for U.S. military and NATO troops, the release said. Additionally, Pittmann said these applicants were not a national security threat to the U.S., and that their lives were endangered by the Taliban.

But the Justice Department said Pittmann accepted thousands of dollars in bribes and had no basis for recommending the applicants.

Pittmann, who first appeared in a federal court in March 2022 on charges of accepting bribes and conspiring to commit visa fraud, coordinated with a co-conspirator in Kabul dating back to 2018, according to court documents. The two met during Pittmann’s deployment to Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015, the records indicated.

Pittmann received the money through a Bank of America account in Hayward, California, which then went to an account with USAA in Pensacola, Florida, disguised under a transaction called “family support,” according to court documents.

“I got it today. Thank you and thank your friend for sending it,” Pittmann said in an email after receiving a payment in 2018, according to court documents. “I just wish the money would keep coming. Ha. Maybe one day we will get a business started. It would be nice to pay off my debts.”

Pittmann commissioned in 2003 and is a civil engineer corps officer, according to service records obtained by Navy Times.

A federal jury convicted Pittmann in July of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, making a materially false writing, and conspiring to commit money laundering. He was facing up to 45 years behind bars prior to his sentencing Monday.

“By protecting Afghan nationals who risk their personal safety to help the U.S. government, the SIV program is essential for the security of U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in Afghanistan,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement.

“Jeromy Pittmann, however, used his position of authority over the program to benefit foreign nationals who paid him bribes, falsely asserting that they had served the United States,” Argentieri said. “Today’s sentence demonstrates that the Justice Department has zero tolerance for those who place their self-interest ahead of our national security.”