The official had a social relationship with a furniture manufacturing executive, with whom she shared confidential contract information.
A former State Department official pleaded guilty last week to disclosing confidential proposal bids in an attempt to help a furniture company executive win a $1.56 million contract.
In December 2016, Patricia DeLaughter, former manager of the department’s Overseas Office Furniture Program, was working to solicit proposals for furnishing a new U.S. embassy when she and another department official knowingly disclosed the confidential bid prices and design plans of competitors to Steven Anstine, vice president of sales for an Overland Park, Kansas, manufacturing company, according to the Justice Department. Multiple news outlets, including The Post and Courier, identified the company as Bernhardt Furniture.
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