Investigations

On January 23, 2013, in U.S. District Court, Miami, Florida, Jihad El Eid, former Director of Broward County Traffic Engineering Division Department (BCTED), and Wael El Eid, were charged with bribery in connection with programs receiving federal funds, highway fraud, mail fraud, extortion under color of official right, and conspiracy.  Also charged in connection with this scheme were Anthoneel Allen, owner of Southeast Underground Utilities, Corporation (SUU), and James Hashim, former Vice-President of SUU.  Allen and Hashim were also charged with disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) violations. 

The investigation revealed that beginning in the fall of 2006 through 2010, at the request of Jihad El Eid, Allen and Hashim provided him  more than $150,000 in cash, a 2003 Ford Taurus, and a job at SUU for Wael El Eid (a relative of Jihad El Eid).  In return, Jihad El Eid allegedly helped SUU obtain work on multi-million dollar projects initiated by the BCTED, including the Signalization and Street Light Installation contract, a contract to make installations and repairs of street lights and traffic equipment in Broward County.  This work was part of larger projects including the Advanced Transportation Management System, a federally-funded project, which required the contractor to install an integrated traffic control system to synchronize traffic flow within Broward County; and the Video Detection Contract, which required the contractor to install video detection cameras in various intersections in Broward County in order to improve traffic flow.  The investigation disclosed that Jihad El Eid assisted SUU concerning billing, specification and inspection matters that resulted in SUU being overpaid by at least $3,000,000.  In addition, Allen filed a fraudulent application to have SUU certified as a DBE, which resulted in the award of approximately 25 fraudulent contracts and subcontracts to SUU in excess of $10,000,000.

This investigation was conducted jointly with FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation Division.