SC Army Major Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy with Iraqi Contractors

A U.S. Army major pleaded guilty to conspiring with Iraqi contractors in order for them to get US government contracts, a Department of Justice press release stated.

Ulysses S. Hicks, of Sumter, faces a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

Hicks, a Captain in the Army at that time, was deployed to Iraq and placed in charge of building construction. It was then that he allegedly took money from local contractors in exchange for ordering paint, lumber and plywood from their companies, the release stated.

Taking these gratuities is a violation of federal law, the release stated. 

These exchanges allegedly took place in most of 2007 and 2008 with Hicks and a co-conspiritor, former U.S. Army Master Sergeant Julio Soto Jr.

Hicks agreed will pay $65,409 plus interest in restitution to the United States. 

Soto pleaded guilty in August. He was sentenced to five years probation and to pay $62,000 in restitution to the US.

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