Trayon White Sr. took bribes to pressure government employees, according to charging documents.
Washington, D.C., Councilman Trayon White Sr. has been charged with bribery, according to court filings unsealed on Aug. 19.
White was arrested on Sunday by federal authorities.
According to an affidavit from an FBI agent, White agreed to accept $156,000 in cash in exchange for using his position as a member of Washington’s District Council to pressure government employees to extend contracts valued at $5 million.
White indeed took payment of $35,000 in cash across four separate occasions—the most recent on Aug. 9—from the owner of the companies that were given the contracts, according to the affidavit.
City code bars public officials from accepting any gifts from people or entities that have or are seeking to obtain contractual or other business with Washington’s government.
White and the owner met on June 26 to discuss a scheme that involved the owner paying White money to ascertain whether contracts for the owner’s companies with the District of Columbia Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement would be extended, according to charging documents. White accepted $15,000 at the meeting and said he would discuss with a certain government employee what would happen with the contracts.
In a meeting about three weeks later, the pair met again and White gave the owner updates on the contracts and received $5,000, the FBI agent said.
During another meeting in July, the owner allegedly gave White $10,000 and they talked about his ongoing efforts to extend the contracts the companies had with the neighborhood office and the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, which he oversees as chairman of the District Council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries, and Youth Affairs. White was also working on helping secure new contracts for the companies.
“I feel good energy about what we embarking on, what we trying to do. I want to bring you up to speed before we go in here about stuff I’ve been working on, trying to get you where you need to be,” White was quoted as saying.
In the last meeting, in August, White received $5,000, according to the affidavit, which included images of White holding white envelopes that were said to be full of money. He said local officials had told him the contracts were poised to be extended.
The owner of the companies provided information to federal officials as part of a plea agreement he reached in which he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bribery related to how he fraudulently obtained loans from the federal government and bribed White.
“Because the investigation into the alleged bribery scheme involved contracts that could soon be awarded and other potential official acts that could be taken, our Office took swift steps to address the alleged crimes we were investigating,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves said in a statement.
A query to a spokesperson for White returned an away message. White has not appeared to comment on his arrest and the charge. He did not have an attorney listed on the court docket.
White, a Democrat, first joined the District Council in January 2017 and was reelected to another term in 2020.
The law that White is accused of violating bars officials from demanding, seeking, receiving, accepting, or agreeing to receive or accept anything of value in return for “being influenced in the performance of any official act; being influenced to commit or aid in committing, or to collude in, or allow, any fraud, or make opportunity for the commission of any fraud, on the United States; or being induced to do or omit to do any act in violation of the official duty of such official or person.”
White faces up to 15 years in prison as well as a fine of up to three times the money he agreed to accept.