U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) has introduced legislation to permanently eliminate the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) following the guilty plea of its Director of Financial Management, Mathieu Zahui, for corruption related to government contracts and accepting bribes.
Senator Lee stated, “The USADF has shown a clear and corrupt pattern of fraud for which its Director of Financial Management has just pled guilty. 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.”
The USADF is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over serious allegations involving misuse of funds. In recent years, several incidents have raised concerns about the agency’s operations:
– In 2023, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch sent a letter highlighting significant irregularities at USADF, including misuse of funds and conflicts of interest.
– A 2024 management advisory from the Inspector General reported poor practices and misuse of disbursed funds by grantees.
– In 2025, The Daily Wire published an investigation detailing how Mathieu Zahui prevented DOGE access while steering contracts to associates in exchange for kickbacks.
– That same year, grant cancellations were announced online due to lack of recipient contact information beyond money wiring details.
– The Department of Justice is pursuing a criminal investigation into USADF in 2026.
Senator Lee’s bill aims to remove all statutory references to USADF, supporting previous executive action that made the agency defunct.
Mike Lee represents Utah in the United States Senate with offices across Utah and Washington, D.C., focusing on limited government, fiscal responsibility, energy independence, military strength and other legislative priorities such as public safety and economic issues according to his official website.
