D.C. Council Member Trayon White Took Tens of Thousands in Bribes, U.S. Says

The Washington Post / Emily Davies, Peter Hermann, Katie Shepherd, Salvador Rizzo, Michael Brice-Saddler

13:21 JST, August 20, 2024

In cash-stuffed envelopes exchanged in the front seat of parked cars, D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. took tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and agreed to pressure D.C. government employees to steer contracts toward the man providing the payments, federal authorities alleged in court documents unsealed Monday.

In a 37-page complaint charging him with one count of bribery, the FBI outlined how it believed the Ward 8 Democrat, who was expected to win reelection in November, had brazenly pressed the owner of local organizations for cash and kickbacks, not knowing the man was secretly working for the FBI and recording their talks. White, seen in multiple photographs in court documents with what appears to be envelopes, vowed to persuade D.C. employees to extend certain contracts aimed at helping the city’s most at-risk youths and adults.

“That’s for, making sure you reach out to [Government Employee 3] and [Government Employee 4],” the unnamed informant said, according to the affidavit, handing White an envelope with $5,000 in cash.

“Once you and I lock eyes and gets to an understanding, I gets to work,” White allegedly replied to the person who officials say had pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement. “I can start making some s— happen.”

It was unclear from court documents whether White was successful in pressuring government officials to change or issue contracts because of the bribes.

“We recognize the seriousness of this matter,” White’s office said in a statement Monday evening. “We want to assure Ward 8 residents and stakeholders that our office remains fully operational and steadfast in our commitment to serving the public.”

The allegations, made public a day after the FBI suddenly arrested White, roiled the halls of D.C. government, where officials said they planned to strip the council member of his assignment to the Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs, which he chairs. The council chairman said he would launch an investigation to determine what further action needed to be taken – which could include expulsion with the support of a supermajority.

The news similarly rocked neighborhoods across Ward 8, where many had grown up alongside the 40-year-old politician and saw him as their fiercest advocate.

Jawanna Hardy, who runs nonprofit Guns Down Friday, said she does not approve of the behavior outlined in the accusations against White but knows him first as the D.C. official most likely to show up at a funeral for one of the city’s children.

“I don’t do politics,” Hardy said. “I do people. And I feel like Trayon is a good person who got caught up in politics.”

She added: “When it comes to gun violence prevention and I have to make a phone call, and a parent wants someone like a Trayon White or a Mayor [Muriel E.] Bowser to be on their side, listen to their story, he’s there and they love that.”

White, who was arrested Sunday afternoon and spent the night in federal custody, made a brief appearance in U.S. District Court in Washington on Monday. Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey agreed to release him while he awaits trial and ordered him to surrender his passport and turn in any firearms. The judge told White he faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison if convicted.

White’s attorney, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., declined to comment on Monday after the hearing.

Authorities allege in the affidavit that White accepted bribes this year and that over the last few months, he attempted to pressure officials in the city’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services and Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, among others. The office has been without a permanent director for more than a year, a vacancy that persisted as D.C. weathered its most deadly year in a quarter century.

Bowser (D) told reporters on Monday morning that she found White’s arrest “troubling” but said she had not read the charges. Pressed about the vacancy at the neighborhood services office, she pointed to the interim, Kwelli D. Sneed, who has been in place since Director Linda Harllee Harper died. Bowser said it did not matter that there was no permanent appointment because “we have a director.”

“I’m sure that constituents across the city, especially in Ward 8, are disappointed,” she said. “People need representation. They need people that go down to the Wilson Building and put them first, fight for them, and I know I speak for them in my disappointment about it.”

Asked again Monday evening about the allegations facing White, a spokesperson for the mayor declined to comment.

FBI agents arrested White at a luxury high-rise apartment complex in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood. The building, according to the property website, has a rooftop infinity pool and rents ranging from more than $2,000 to about $9,300 a month. The building is in Ward 6, outside the area making up White’s district. His annual salary is $167,037, according to the D.C. Department of Human Resources database.

The affidavit is sweeping in scope and includes photographs of who prosecutors say is White in the informant’s vehicle and copies of text messages between the two. In the document, authorities outline four meetups between June and August, in which they allege White accepted about $35,000 in payments and agreed to take a total of $156,000 from a person who operated businesses and contracted with the D.C. government. At one point, authorities say, White took payment in the form of trips to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas.

One day in July, the affidavit alleges White updated the informant “of his efforts to secure grants from the D.C. government [for the informant’s] companies” and agreed to accept a 3 percent kickback of the value of the contracts, which add up to $5.3 million.

“Additionally, White indicated that he needed money,” the affidavit says. The informant then “left to retrieve $5,000” and returned to give it to White, according to the affidavit.

In a different transaction, the affidavit says the informant handed White $15,000 in an envelope.

“What you need me to do, man,” White said, according to the affidavit. “I don’t wanna feel like you gotta gimme something to get something. We better than that.”

The companies to which White is alleged to have sought to steer contracts are not named in the indictment. But several details in the affidavit involving one of the companies owned by the informant match public records recounting a contract dispute between the D.C. government and a local nonprofit called Life Deeds Inc. Allieu Kamara, who is listed in IRS documents as the president and CEO of Life Deeds, did not return phone calls requesting comment.

Life Deeds describes itself on its website as a “a community-based initiative that serves high-risk youth and adults throughout the District and Maryland” – language that matches how the FBI described “Company 1.” The organization was involved in a lengthy dispute with the D.C. government that began in 2019, after the contractor allegedly falsified background checks despite a requirement to screen the criminal records of any employee who might have direct contact with children.

Representatives for Life Deeds did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

On Monday at the federal courthouse, White made praying motions with his hands and nodded to his supporters in the courtroom gallery as he took a seat next to his attorney. One woman among his supporters began to weep.

Harvey, the judge, ordered White not to make direct contact with the alleged victims or witnesses about the bribery case, but he is allowed to have discussions with those individuals about other issues, the judge said. Prosecutors would be providing him a list of names on Monday, Harvey said.

“I don’t know who they are. Obviously, you still have a job to do,” the judge said.

“Yes,” White replied.

A hearing was set for Sept. 19.

White won his first election as a young father in 2011 to fill a vacancy on the D.C. State Board of Education. At the time, he drew comparisons to former mayor Marion Barry, a widely beloved figure despite multiple scandals, who White has called a political mentor.

Since 2017, White has served as council member for Ward 8, where about one-quarter of residents live below the poverty line and neighborhoods are disproportionately and acutely affected by gun violence. He has a loyal constituency, and is known by some for his boots-on-the-ground activism and showing up at crime scenes when his community is hurting.

But he is also no stranger to controversy. White once posted a video that espoused a conspiracy theory that Jews control the weather, a statement for which he has since apologized. He has called for the National Guard to come into D.C. in response to an uptick in crime. Two years ago, he led a haphazard mayoral campaign that was launched through an Instagram comment, spurring an inquiry from the Office of Campaign Finance. He lost in the primary with less than 9 percent of the vote.

In June, White saw two challengers for his seat in the Democratic primary. He won, but his victory was tainted by a dispute with the campaign finance office involving two of his previous political campaigns.

Earlier this year, the office fined White $40,000, writing that the committees for his 2022 mayoral campaign and 2020 reelection campaign had, at various points, failed to provide requested documentation to correct discrepancies involving thousands of dollars of reported expenditures and contributions. That included $58,000 from his mayoral campaign that the campaign finance office said was not properly accounted for.

In May, a spokesperson for the office said White had appealed the fines associated with his 2020 campaign, and that the issues with the 2022 campaign had not yet been resolved.

Spokespeople at the office did not respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Justice Department guidance says officials should not take any public steps – such as making arrests or serving subpoenas – in investigations involving politicians and candidates in the 60 days before an election. The guidance is intended to ensure that political investigations are not used to influence elections. White does not face any serious challengers in the heavily Democratic ward in November, and the election is more than 60 days away.

On Monday, news of the allegations against White rippled through D.C. workers tasked with mediating street conflicts. Some expressed concern that the alleged corruption about contracts to fund violence interruption would be used to discredit their work.

“This is a trying time for the city and like so many other matters, those in Ward 8 are most impacted,” said Marcus Ellis, the executive director of Peace for DC, a nonprofit that trains violence interrupters across the city. “We have to continue to uplift the work of Community Prevention and Intervention and support those that are doing great work in the space.”