WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) today led a coalition of congressional colleagues in the House and Senate urging the U.S. Department of Justice to continue its probe of the United States African Development Foundation (USADF) in light of uncovered fraud and corruption. Joining Senator Lee in this effort are U.S. Representative Matt Van Epps (R-TN-07) and U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), and Tim Sheehy (R-MT).

The letter reads as follows:

Dear Attorney General Bondi:

Thank you for the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) work to expose the egregious corruption at the United States African Development Foundation (USADF). Despite years of severe misconduct by senior leaders of the agency, the previous administration not only failed to detect blatant corruption but refused to act on credible allegations brought to light. Under your leadership, the DOJ’s successful investigation into Mathieu Zahui, a senior USADF official pleading guilty to accepting gratuities, exposed the rogue agency and was a critical first step in serving justice.

We write to support further investigation into USADF. While the Zahui case is an important win, the institutional corruption runs far deeper than one official. Other senior officials, contractors, and grantees have been exposed by credible whistleblower testimonies and evidence, and it is unclear how much of the hundreds of millions of dollars managed by USADF fed the scheme. In a most telling sign, in March 2025, USADF officials refused to grant DOGE staffers access to the building and to its books, requiring intervention from U.S. Marshals. Democrat leaders and media applauded the “bravery” of USADF officials at the time, but now we know USADF was protecting itself from public accountability.

Zahui’s plea only scratches the surface. Bribery, kickbacks, misuse of funds, steering contracts to African organizations in which senior officials have a financial stake, illicit bookkeeping, pass-throughs from African organizations to DC staff, gross mismanagement, destruction of documents, lack of transparency and oversight, and whistleblower retaliation all converge in one agency: USADF.

We urge you to leave no stone unturned as you uncover more waste, fraud, and abuse. We cannot make peace with such reckless and deep corruption. On behalf of the American people, we thank you for your tireless efforts to bring forth justice, and we stand ready to support the DOJ’s investigation in any way we can.

Access the full text of the letter here.

See the timeline of uncovered fraud at USADF here.

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