Corrupt Pace Manager Sentenced For $300K Scam

CHICAGO, IL — A former manager at the Pace bus service was sentenced Friday in a case involving pocketing of $300,000 in kickbacks, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. Rajinder Sachdeva, 54, of Shaumburg, will spend one year and one day in federal prison.

The release says Sachdeva, while a department manager at Pace, used his position to demand nearly $300,000 in gratuity and kickbacks from IT contractors between 2010 and 2014.

He used his position to hire contractors at Pace or keep their contracts in exchange for the money. He hid the payments from Pace by sending them through companies he controlled.

"In that role, he oversaw the implementation of information technology used by Pace to support its various business units, such as human resources, accounting, purchasing, payments, and grant writing," the release says.

Sachdeva had pleaded guilty before the sentencing to one count of solicitation of bribes and gratuities by an agent of a federally funded organization.

“Public corruption is a significant problem in this district, and the defendant’s corrupt behavior is the type that erodes the public’s confidence in public agencies,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew F. Madden and Erika Csicsila argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “The defendant repeatedly used his position at a transportation agency to line his own pockets."

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