Former Postal Service Procurement Official Pleads Guilty in Bribery Scheme Over Packaging Contracts

A former U.S. Postal Service procurement official pleaded guilty Thursday to taking part in a scheme to steer packaging contracts, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars, to four companies in exchange for jobs and payments for a relative, the Justice Department said.

James E. Lee Sr. pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud, according to the department's release. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 25, 2027.

What Prosecutors Say He Did

According to the release, Lee was a product management specialist who oversaw expedited packaging supplies for the Postal Service and served as a contracting officer representative on several contracts to make and supply that packaging.

Between about mid-2018 and late 2023, prosecutors say, Lee steered the procurement process so that contracts would be awarded to, or kept by, four different companies. The department says he gave the companies preferential treatment, reviewed their draft technical proposals and shared confidential internal information on pricing and other issues.

The release says Lee used a relative and the relative's consulting company as a go-between to pass information to the companies and to hide his role. In exchange, the companies hired the relative as an employee or consultant, resulting in payments totaling nearly $183,000, according to the department.

The Related Bribery Cases

Thursday's release says Lee's relative and a former executive at one of the manufacturing companies have already pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. It does not name either of them or the court where the cases were filed.

Court cases reported earlier this year by The Daily Record, a Maryland legal newspaper, match those details. In March, James E. Lee Jr., a Maryland-based consultant, pleaded guilty in federal court in Maryland to conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services wire fraud. Prosecutors said he acted as an intermediary between four firms and an unnamed Postal Service product management specialist, the paper reported.

In June, James Griffin, a national account manager for a Michigan-based corrugated box maker, pleaded guilty in the same court to conspiring to pay bribes to the official, according to The Daily Record. Charging papers in his case said he paid about $51,103 to the consultant, and that the official helped the company win a contract valued at a minimum of $30 million and a maximum of $885 million. The paper reported that Griffin also admitted deleting almost 90 text messages after receiving a grand jury subpoena.

The official in those filings was not named. The Daily Record reported that he was a Maryland resident who worked for the Postal Service for more than two decades before leaving in 2024.

Sentencing

The Postal Service Office of Inspector General and the FBI's Pittsburgh field office are investigating the case and related cases, according to the release. Edward P. Sullivan, chief of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, is prosecuting.

Conspiracy to commit bribery carries a maximum of five years in prison, The Daily Record reported in its coverage of the related cases.

Sources: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Former U.S. Postal Service Official Pleads Guilty to Bribery Scheme Related to Contracts Worth Hundreds of Millions of Dollars" (Oct. 29, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-postal-service-official-pleads-guilty-bribery-scheme-related-contracts-worth ; The Daily Record, "Contractor, MD consultant charged in alleged USPS bribery conspiracy" (April 20, 2026): https://thedailyrecord.com/2026/04/20/usps-bribery-conspiracy/ ; The Daily Record, "USPS contractor pleads guilty in MD conspiracy case" (June 5, 2026): https://thedailyrecord.com/2026/06/05/usps-maryland-conspiracy/ . Cover photo: U.S. Postal Service headquarters, Washington, by Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.