A former United States Postal Service employee pled guilty Tuesday to a bribery scheme involving USPS contracts.
Colorado resident Zechariah Yi, 52, was indicted in March for his role in accepting payments related to USPS service contracts awarded to certain trucking companies. He pled guilty to one count of receiving a bribe by a public official.
According to court documents, Yi admitted that, while working as a senior network operations analyst for the USPS, he solicited and received approximately $1.5 million in kickbacks from the owners and associates of three trucking companies in exchange for Yi’s agreeing to help the trucking companies obtain USPS service contracts. The USPS service contracts awarded to the three trucking companies paid the companies a total of approximately $15 million.
Yi faces up to 15 years in federal prison. His sentencing date has been set for March 26, 2026, before Judge Karen Gren Scholer.
Yi is the fourth defendant to plead guilty as part of this bribery scheme.
Another USPS employee, Tai Rho, and the owners of two trucking companies, Wan Jin Yoon and Hong Jin Yoon, each pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud for their involvement in the bribery scheme. They each face up to five years in federal prison. All three are set for sentencing in early 2026.
The FBI Dallas Field Office and the United States Postal Service – Office of the Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marty Basu and Joshua Detzky prosecuted the case.
Camille Knight of the Law Office of Camille M. Knight is representing Yi. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dimitri Narciso Rocha, Elyse Lyons and Jonathan Penn are also representing the government.
The case is USA v. Zechariah Yi, 3:24-cr-00377.