A United States Postal Service employee pleaded guilty to receiving bribes in exchange for millions of dollars’ worth of service contracts.
Zechariah Yi, a 52-year-old from Aurora, Colorado, pleaded guilty on December 2 to “receiving a bribe by a public official,” announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Ryan Raybould. He reportedly accepted payments in exchange for roughly $15 million in USPS service contracts.
Yi was indicted in March, according to a press release. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in federal prison.
His sentencing is set for March 26, 2026.
While working as a USPS senior network operations analyst, Yi reportedly solicited and accepted $1.5 million in kickbacks from owners and associates of three trucking companies. In exchange, he helped them secure service contracts with the agency.
Yi is the fourth defendant to plead guilty as part of the bribery scheme, according to the release. USPS employee Tai Rho and the owners of two trucking companies, Wan Jin Yoon and Hong Jin Yoon, each pled guilty to one count of “conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud.”
If convicted, the others could face up to five years in federal prison. Their sentencings are also set for early 2026.
FBI-Dallas and USPS-Office of the Inspector General investigated this case, while Asst. U.S. Attorneys Marty Basu and Joshua Detzky led the prosecution.
On the federal level, a USAID contract officer and three executives pleaded guilty in June for a similar scheme – exchanging bribes for $550 million in federal contracts, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. More recently, Miami-based air cargo company Sky Lease agreed to pay $1 million to settle allegations it lied about when it delivered U.S. mail overseas.