The Trump administration is intensifying its crackdown on waste, fraud, and abuse at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), moving to bar a growing list of organizations and individuals from access to American taxpayer dollars.
According to Just The News, the latest enforcement actions target U.S.-funded nonprofits operating in Pakistan and Mali, both of which have now been formally debarred and excluded from federal contracts, grants, and other government business for a defined period. These steps underscore a broader effort by President Trumps team to rein in what conservatives have long criticized as unaccountable foreign aid spending that too often enriches corrupt actors instead of advancing U.S. interests.
Under President Trumps leadership, we are aggressively hunting those who steal from American taxpayers and, as USAID IG investigators continue to do, will travel to the ends of the earth to hold fraudsters accountable, a senior administration official familiar with USAIDs Office of Inspector General (OIG) told Just the News. The OIG, a statutorily independent law enforcement agency, has been central to exposing schemes that siphon off funds meant for development and stabilization abroad.
In Pakistan, investigators uncovered a kickback operation involving a U.S.-funded power grid project, implicating a U.K. citizen, Stephen Paul Edmund Sutton, and a Pakistani citizen, Atif Hussain Gillani. A USAID OIG report found that the fraud diverted nearly $100,000 from the project, with Sutton alone receiving at least $21,000 in illicit kickbacks.
Between May and November 2015, Gillani and Sutton created two companies that secured purchase orders for forklift and crane services from a USAID awardee, then pocketed the profits. Gillani arranged for local providers to perform the work at far lower rates than those listed in the purchase orders, while Sutton ensured the inflated invoices were approved and paid.
The Trump administration has paired administrative sanctions with criminal enforcement, working closely with the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue prosecutions. Sutton was extradited from the U.K. on May 19, 2025, and pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit theft concerning a program receiving federal funds, a felony offense that earned him a sentence of time served, one day of supervised release, and a three-year debarment from government programs.
On September 25, 2025, Gillani also pleaded guilty and received a sentence of time served, along with a three-year debarment from participating in U.S. government-funded activities. The U.S.-funded power grid in Pakistan, rife with bribery and kickbacks uncovered by USAID IG, reflects the fraud, waste, and abuse in overseas spending that the American people will no longer tolerate, the administration official told Just the News.
In Mali, the OIG determined that the Association Subaahi Gumo (ASG), a participant in a USAID-funded conflict prevention initiative, engaged in serious financial misconduct. Investigators concluded the group likely falsified employee contracts, forged signatures, and committed payroll fraud, prompting USAID/Mali to terminate its award and debar ASG, its general secretary, and its finance and administrative manager for three years.
Funding NGOs in Mali that used American taxpayer funds for their own enjoyment rather than pay their employees is yet another example of the reckless spending that this administration has ended, the senior administration official told Just the News. The actions in Pakistan and Mali highlight a broader shift under President Trump toward demanding accountability from foreign aid recipients, signaling that U.S. taxpayers will no longer be treated as a bottomless ATM for corrupt NGOs and overseas contractors.
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