January 6th defendants got years in federal prison for walking through an open door.
A former FBI insider just got caught running a five-year fraud scheme that stole $350,000 from the agency he worked for.
The penalty for stealing $350,000 from the FBI turned out to be something no one in the private sector could get away with.
The Five-Year Bid-Rigging Scheme Inside the LA Field Office
Jeffrey Spencer spent five years as a lead electronics technician at the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.
His job was to solicit competitive bids for equipment contracts – the process that keeps taxpayer money from going to insiders and cronies.
He rigged it instead.
From 2015 through 2020, Spencer coordinated with his sister, Christy Evereklian, to make sure her companies always won.
Evereklian ran a fake competition – multiple companies, all hers, all submitting bids she already knew would lose.
She used a random number generator to set the losing prices, then filed each submission under the names of family members who never touched the contracts.
Spencer, sitting on the inside, already knew which of her companies would submit the lowest – and winning – bid before the process started.
The FBI paid out at least $350,000 before anyone caught on.
Spencer and Evereklian were charged in July 2025 and entered guilty pleas the same day the charges were filed.
Each faced up to five years in federal prison.
How a Government Contract Fraud Conviction Costs Less Than a Used Car
Prosecutors asked for an $8,000 fine for Evereklian and pushed for $20,000 from Spencer.
The judge gave both of them $8,000 – roughly 2.3 cents on every dollar they stole.
Evereklian got three years of probation and no prison time.
Spencer was sentenced June 5 to the same result after his attorneys argued a larger fine would cause financial hardship.
The judge agreed.
For a scheme that ran five years, corrupted the FBI's own procurement process, and defrauded the federal government out of $350,000, two people walked out of a Los Angeles courtroom with fines smaller than a used car and no handcuffs.
Nobody has asked whether the equipment those companies delivered actually worked – or whether Spencer made sure it passed inspection too.
The DOJ Double Standard Nobody in the Media Will Talk About
This is not a one-off.
When FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleaded guilty in 2021 to falsifying a federal document – doctoring a CIA email to justify spying on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page – he got 12 months of probation and a $100 fine.
A $100 fine for helping the FBI conduct illegal surveillance on an American citizen.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe misled federal investigators multiple times about leaking classified information to the press – and was never charged with a single crime.
Peter Strzok ran the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation while texting about an "insurance policy" to stop Trump from becoming president – and walked away with a $1.2 million settlement from the DOJ after suing over his firing.
The DOJ set a record in fiscal year 2025 – $6.8 billion recovered from fraud schemes under the False Claims Act.
They announced it like a victory lap.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, a $350,000 fraud scheme – compounded by sophisticated means and abuse of a position of trust – puts defendants squarely in prison territory.
Spencer didn't just commit fraud.
He used his position inside the FBI – the same agency that investigates corruption – to guarantee his sister's companies won contracts she had no right to win.
That is betraying public trust.
The DOJ prosecuted the case, proved the fraud, and then asked for an $8,000 fine.
And the federal judge who signed off on this sent a clear message to every other federal insider looking at the procurement system right now: the risk is worth it.
The same DOJ that threw the book at grandmothers who walked through the Capitol handed an FBI insider a fine he can pay off in a few paychecks.
That is the two-tiered justice system in plain sight – not a theory, not a talking point, a sentencing document confirms it.
Sources:
- Ken Silva, "No Prison Time for FBI Employee Who Illegally Funneled Contracts to Sister's Companies," Headline USA, September 5, 2026.
- "Former DOJ Contractor Charged with Conspiracy to Defraud the United States," DOJ Office of Inspector General, April 17, 2026.
- "Former FBI Procurement Official Agrees To Plead Guilty To Bid-Rigging Scheme To Obtain Electronics Contracts," Just the News, July 5, 2025.
- Brooke Singman and Jake Gibson, "Former FBI Lawyer Kevin Clinesmith Sentenced to 12 Months Probation," Fox News, January 29, 2021.
- "Procurement Fraud Enforcement Trends Continue Into 2026," Inside the False Claims Act, May 22, 2026.
