ASHEVILLE — A Georgia-based engineer has reached a plea agreement with federal prosecutors six months after the U.S. Attorney's Office alleged that he bribed Buncombe County government's highest-appointed officials for millions of dollars worth of contracts.

Records filed in federal court Wednesday afternoon show Joe Wiseman of Roswell, Georgia, will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The charge carries a maximum of five years in prison.

Details of the plea agreement were not immediately available. The deal must be formally accepted by U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Carleton Metcalf during Wiseman's 9 a.m. Thursday court appearance in downtown Asheville.

Holly Pierson, an Atlanta-based attorney for Wiseman, declined to comment Wednesday.

The deal comes after three ex-county managers Wanda Greene, Mandy Stone and Jon Creighton all pleaded guilty to corruption charges and await sentencing. Michael Greene, Wanda Greene's adult son who worked for Buncombe, also is awaiting sentencing on charges related to misuse of county-issued credit cards.

MORE:

► Newly hired Buncombe County manager: Corruption investigation 'didn't deter me at all'

► Attorney: Criminal matters for contractor tied to Buncombe bribes to be resolved soon

► Joe Wiseman, contractor tied to Buncombe kickbacks scheme, did work in Catawba County

Court records: Wiseman, managers went on 'expense-paid pleasure trips'

Prosecutors say that for years, Wiseman covered the cost of vacations, sporting event tickets, spa treatments, wine and other gifts for the Buncombe staffers in exchange for contracts. His own limited liability company, Environmental Infrastructure Consulting, received more than $2 million worth of projects beginning in 2014.

Wiseman primarily funded "expense-paid pleasure trips" both domestic and abroad, according to court records. Locations included Key West, Florida; the Napa Valley; Vienna, Austria; Cartagena, Colombia; and others.

Wiseman provided the managers with his credit card information to use for expenses, and had a Buncombe County employee identification card that bore his name but Creighton's photo. Another false card displayed Wiseman's photo with Creighton's name, court documents said.

The Buncombe managers "concealed the material fact that the defendant was providing these things of value in order to influence the county's decision-makers — Greene and Creighton — to continue to award county contracts to Wiseman's companies," according to court records.

Wiseman denies 'padding' invoices to cover kickbacks

Additional records filed Wednesday show that Wiseman disputes prosecutors' earlier claims that he later included the cost of the kickbacks in his invoices to the county. Instead, he claims the expenses incurred "came out of what otherwise would have been part of the profit he would have made as part of the lump-sum contracts, rather than any type of 'padding' or inflating the contract amount in order to pay for these expenses."

See: Buncombe County wants records from ex-contractor Joe Wiseman. He wants $25,000.

"The government's investigation has thus far neither confirmed nor rebutted this contention as to whether the contracts themselves were inflated in such a way as to charge the county more in order to fund these illegal expenses," court records said.

Following the August indictment of the managers, county commissioners voted to terminate any active contracts the county had with Wiseman's company, along with his former employers CDM Smith and Petra Engineering.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said the investigation into Buncombe County government continues.

Wiseman still faces county's civil suit

Buncombe County still is seeking damages from Wiseman and his company, part of a civil suit that also listed Greene, Creighton and Stone as defendants. Greene has since paid the county $750,000 and Creighton has paid $189,000 under financial settlements.

Neither Wiseman nor Stone have settled.

Wiseman's attorneys have filed a motion for a protective order and a stay of discovery in an effort to postpone fulfilling Buncombe's requests for records including bank accounts, travel and communications. They have argued that fulfilling discovery could interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation into Wiseman.

A judge has not yet ruled on the motion.

This story will be updated.