Former Background Investigator for Federal Government Sentenced for Making a False Statement

            WASHINGTON – Jason A. Razo, 39, a former background investigator who did work under contract for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), was sentenced today to two months of incarceration, to be followed by four months of home detention, on a charge stemming from his falsification of work on background investigations of federal employees and contractors, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Norbert E. Vint, Acting Inspector General for the Office of Personnel Management.

           Razo, of Van Nuys, Calif., pled guilty in February 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to making a false statement. He was sentenced by the Honorable Senior Judge Gladys Kessler. Following his prison term, Razo will be placed on three years of supervised release, during which he will serve the four months of home detention. Also, Razo has agreed to pay $85,779 in restitution to the federal government.

            According to a statement of offense submitted to the Court, Razo was employed by KeyPoint Government Solutions as an investigator under contract to conduct background investigations on behalf of OPM’s Federal Investigative Services.

            Between October 2010 and July 2011, in approximately 50 Reports of Investigations on background investigations, Razo represented that he had interviewed a source or reviewed a record­ regarding the subject of the background investigation. In fact, he had not conducted the interviews or obtained the records of interest. These reports were utilized and relied upon by the agencies requesting the background investigations to determine whether the subjects were suitable for positions having access to classified information, for positions impacting national security, for receiving or retaining security clearances, or for positions of public trust.

            Razo’s false representations have required Federal Investigative Services to reopen and rework numerous background investigations that were assigned to him during the time period of his falsifications, at an estimated cost of at least $85,779 to the U.S. government.

            Federal Investigative Services has a robust integrity assurance program which utilizes a variety of methods to ensure the accuracy of reported information.  The falsification of investigative case work by the defendant was detected through the program.

            This is one of numerous cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia since 2008 involving false representations by background investigators and record checkers working on federal background investigations. In addition to Razo, 21 other background investigators and two record checkers have been convicted of charges.

            Federal Investigative Services, through its workforce of approximately 6,000, including 5,200 field investigators, is responsible for conducting background investigations for numerous federal agencies and their contractors, on individuals either employed by or seeking employment with those agencies or contractors. Federal Investigative Services conducted more than 2.4 million investigations during the 2015 fiscal year. More than 600,000 of these investigations involved applicants for access or continued access to classified information.

            In performing background investigations, the investigators conduct interviews of individuals who have information about the person who is the subject of the review. In addition, the investigators seek out, obtain, and review documentary evidence, such as employment records, to verify and corroborate information provided by either the subject of the background investigation or by persons interviewed during the investigation.  After conducting interviews and obtaining documentary evidence, the investigators prepare a Report of Investigation containing the results of the interviews and document reviews, and electronically submit the material to OPM in Washington, D.C. OPM then provides a copy of the investigative file to the requesting agency, which can use the information to determine an individual’s eligibility for employment or a security clearance.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Acting Inspector General Vint praised the efforts of Special Agent Christopher Sulhoff, OPM, Office of the Inspector General, and Philip Kroop, Kevin Cassidy, and Jeffrey Addicks, OPM, Federal Investigative Services. They also acknowledged the work of Paralegal Specialists Donna Galindo and Julie Dailey of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Chubin Epstein, who investigated and prosecuted this matter.