CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: PG County Liquor Board Commissioner Anuj Sud Sentenced to Two Years in Prison For Federal Bribery Conduct

Maryland: Culture of Corruption

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: PG County Liquor Board Commissioner Anuj Sud Sentenced to Two Years in Prison For Federal Bribery Conduct

PG Liquor Commissioner Anud Sud sentenced to 2 years in prison for bribery on votes

GREENBELT, MD.  – It’s all about the cash in PG County where former States Attorney and County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife scammed, plotted and purloined for years until both were caught and convicted.  Now the feds may not have nabbed a liquor official with stuffing checks down a toilet like Council Member Leslie Johnson did when her husband called her and told her to pack cash into her bra.

Testimony in the case revealed he was taking ten Benjamins for key votes on liquor decisions.

United States District Judge Paula Xinis sentenced Anuj Sud, 40, of Hyattsville, Maryland, to two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $50,000 fine, for violating the Travel Act by committing bribery conduct.  Sud solicited and accepted bribes in the performance of his official duties on the Prince George’s County Board of License Commissioners (“Liquor Board”).

The sentence was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Thomas Jankowski of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Washington, D.C. Field Office; and Chief Henry P. Stawinski III of the Prince George’s County Police Department.

Sud was appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to be a Liquor Board Commissioner in 2015.

Sud also was a licensed attorney in Maryland since 2005, until his disbarment following the current criminal charge.

According to court documents, in July 2015, Sud traveled to Washington, D.C. to promote and establish a bribery relationship with another individual with business before the Liquor Board.  In September 2015, Sud solicited bribes from the individual in exchange for Sud’s assistance with Liquor Board matters.

At other meetings in 2015 and 2016, Sud and the individual discussed Sud voting favorably in upcoming Liquor Board hearings concerning the individual’s clients, in exchange for money.  At each of the subsequent hearings, Sud took favorable action and made favorable votes on behalf of the individual’s clients.  In total, from 2015 to 2016, Sud accepted three $1,000 cash bribe payments in exchange for Sud’s official action as a Liquor Board Commissioner.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI, IRS-CI, and Prince George’s County Police Department for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Windom who prosecuted the case.

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