The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) honored partner Louis “Tony” Pellegrino with the Award for Excellence in the category of Investigations. Each year, CIGIE's awards recognize notable achievements of inspector general staff across more than 70 federal agencies, highlighting exceptional collaboration to combat fraud, waste and abuse in federal programs and operations.

Pellegrino was honored for his work as a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he played a pivotal role in investigating and prosecuting the case of United States v. Sina Moayedi, a government contractor that defrauded the State Department over a 25-year period by fraudulently obtaining federal contracts involving embassies, consulates, military posts and US Marine Security Barracks worldwide. Among other things, Moayedi was convicted of bribing an insider in the State Department’s Overseas Buildings Operations division, lying to obtain a Top Secret security clearance, destroying evidence and obtaining nearly US$200 million in federal contracts through fraud and bribery. Moayedi was sentenced to ten years in federal prison by US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff.