Davide Velarde
Introduction
Davide Velarde, 44, of Tucson, was indicted by a federal grand jury for making materially false statements on background investigation forms to obtain employment with federal contractors serving NASA, the Internal Revenue Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — positions he allegedly held while still on active duty with the United States Air Force . The indictment was announced on August 24, 2026, by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona .
Background Information
The alleged scheme was a double-dip built on paperwork. According to the indictment, while Velarde was still serving in the Air Force he held positions with federal contractors for the IRS and NASA after making false statements about when he would retire from the service — drawing military pay and contractor wages for the same stretch of calendar .
After he did retire, the pattern continued by other means: the indictment alleges he made additional false statements while applying for work with a NOAA federal contractor to conceal that he had previously been fired from federal contract work . In total, Velarde is alleged to have earned approximately $466,708 in wages from the Air Force and the federal contractors between August 2021 and October 2025 .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not convicted. An indictment is an accusation; Velarde is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The indictment’s core allegation is simultaneous employment obtained by deception: false statements on the background forms that federal contractors use to vet positions touching NASA, the IRS, and NOAA . “You cannot be in multiple places at once, and you certainly cannot mislead the federal government to obtain simultaneous employment,” said Jennifer Bryan, Special Agent in Charge of the NASA Office of Inspector General’s Western Field Office. “David Velarde’s scheme to collect multiple paychecks was both an abuse of taxpayer dollars and a breach of public trust” .
The government’s oversight partners framed the case the same way. Judd Leinum, Special Agent in Charge of the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General, said that “misrepresenting employment history and eligibility threatens the integrity of federal procurement and the protection of taxpayer funds,” and that any attempt to deceive federal agencies would not be tolerated .
A conviction for making false statements carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The investigation reads like a tour of the federal inspector-general community: NASA’s Office of Inspector General, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), the Commerce Department’s OIG, and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations — Detachment 217 Commander Richard Kautz called it “another great example of interagency efforts to stem fraudulent activity impacting entities across the federal government” . TIGTA Special Agent in Charge Krystofor Proev emphasized his agency’s role in safeguarding the integrity of IRS contracting and procurement .
Current Status
Velarde stands indicted and has not been publicly reported to have entered a plea or reached a disposition since the August 2026 announcement . The allegations — covering wages from August 2021 through October 2025 — are unproven, and each element will have to be established in court .
Impact on Their Career/Life
Velarde’s alleged overemployment scheme, if proven, ends the precise careers it depended on: no federal contractor re-credentials a background form that hid an active-duty status and a firing. The indictment converts a four-year stretch of stacked paychecks — military and civilian, across three agencies’ contractor rolls — into a false-statements case carrying five-year exposure per count, and his Air Force service record now sits in a prosecution file built by the inspector generals of the very agencies he is alleged to have gamed .
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona — “Tucson Man Indicted for Lying to Obtain Federal Contract Work While on Active Duty with the Air Force” source