Lee Introduces Terminate USADF Act as Senior Official Pleads Guilty to Fraud

Lee Introduces Terminate USADF Act as Senior Official Pleads Guilty to Fraud
January 30, 2026
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced
legislation
to terminate the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF), a fraudulent foreign aid agency made defunct by an Executive Order from President Trump. USADF’s Director of Financial Management Mathieu Zahui
pled guilty
today to corruption in awarding government contracts and accepting bribes. The
Terminate Unaccountable Spending, Abuse, Deception, and Fraud (USADF) Act
will permanently scrub the USADF from statutory law, supporting President Trump’s agenda to eliminate fraud and waste from the federal government.
“The USADF has shown a clear and corrupt pattern of fraud for which its Director of Financial Management has just pled guilty,”
said Senator Mike Lee.
“This sorry excuse for an agency misused taxpayer dollars to hand out government contracts and evaded DOGE to cover up the deceit. President Trump was right to shut this down, and the Terminate USADF Act will make its elimination permanent so that no further fraud can occur.”
Background
The USADF is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for severe misuse of funds. A timeline of the agency’s fraud and corruption is as follows:
2023: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch sent a
letter
noting significant irregularities at the agency, including misuse of funds, inappropriate partnerships, conflicts of interest, mismanagement, etc.
2024: A
management advisory
from the Inspector General noted that disbursed funds were misused by grantees and that USADF utilized extremely poor practices.
2025: The Daily Wire published a four-part
investigation
detailing how USADF official Mathieu Zahui refused DOGE access because he had steered illicit contracts to friends in exchange for kickbacks. Senate Democrats initially
defended
the agency as taking a stand against DOGE, despite its corrupt motives.
2025: The cancellation of grants had to be
announced
online because USADF had no contact information for recipients other than their money wiring details.
2026: The U.S. Department of Justice is currently pursuing a criminal
investigation
of USADF.
2026: USADF Director of Financial Management Mathieu Zahui
pled guilty
today to corruptly handing out government contracts and accepting bribes.
Read the full text of the bill
here
.
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