The Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture complaint on April 22, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeking to seize a Beverly Hills property known as "Foothill Manor" [1]. The complaint alleges the mansion was purchased and renovated using approximately $30 million in proceeds from a scheme to defraud the Defense Logistics Agency and bribe Kurdish General Mansour Barzani [1]. The alleged fraud generated more than $700 million in fraudulent DLA contracts [1].
According to the complaint, a Virginia-based defense contractor orchestrated a corrupt arrangement to secure exclusive jet fuel delivery contracts at Erbil International Airport in Iraq's Kurdistan Region [1]. The scheme operated between roughly 2016 and 2020, during Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State [1]. The contractor allegedly paid bribes to Barzani, who held authority over access to the airport, in exchange for his assistance in steering DLA fuel supply contracts [1][2]. Proceeds from those contracts were then laundered into U.S. real estate, with Foothill Manor serving as the primary identified asset [1][2].
The civil forfeiture action proceeds under federal statutes permitting the government to pursue property traceable to fraud against the United States and to money laundering, without requiring a prior criminal conviction [1]. The FBI Washington Field Office, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the underlying investigation [1]. The action names the property itself as the defendant, a standard civil forfeiture posture that shifts the burden to any claimant to establish a lawful ownership interest in the asset [1].
The filing signals an aggressive posture toward foreign-official corruption linked to U.S. defense spending, particularly in active theaters of operation. No criminal charges against Barzani or the contractor have been publicly announced in connection with this filing [1][2]. Any claimant to Foothill Manor must respond to the complaint within the statutory period or risk default forfeiture. The breadth of the alleged contract fraud, exceeding $700 million, suggests the civil asset action may precede or run parallel to a broader criminal investigation [1].
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