Results tagged “scandal”

Federal authorities believe former D.C. Taxicab Commission chairman Causton Toney participated in a long-running bribery scheme while he held that position from 2005-2007, the Washington Post reports this morning. A recently unsealed affidavit lays out the FBI's suspicions against Toney, who has not been charged with any crime, but whose home was raided in October.

Tom already told you about Tim Craig's story in today's Washington Post, which outlines how D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray used council stationery to solicit a $20,000 contribution from Comcast to help pay for Democratic Party activities at last year's national convention. But potentially even worse news for Gray also came today in the form of this story by Washington Times reporter Jeffrey Anderson, which alleges that some questionable work was performed on Gray's Hillcrest home by developer William C. Smith & Co. – a huge company that has a long list of contracts with the District government, and doesn't usually offer basic home repair services.

With relations between Mayor Adrian Fenty and the D.C. Council as strained as they are, you'd think the city's chief executive might do what he could to make things just a little bit better. But if a hearing today before the council on the ongoing Department of Parks and Recreation contracting scandal serves as any indication, that doesn't seem to be the case.

If you've been following the large-scale FBI investigation into attempts to bribe public officials associated with the D.C. taxicab industry, you've got to read Jason Cherkis's cover story this week in the Washington City Paper. Cherkis spent some time with a few of the 30+ men named in the indictment, and found that federal prosecutors may well be overreaching in their attempts to prosecute some of these guys.

Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham is relinquishing his lead role in oversight of the city's taxicab industry, despite an earlier determination from Council Chair Vincent Gray that Graham should keep taxis in his portfolio as chairman of the public works and transportation committee. Graham has asked Gray to transfer taxicab oversight powers to the Committee of the Whole.

When D.C. voting rights advocacy organization DC Vote launched its "I Am DC" ad campaign earlier this summer, it placed posters featuring the faces and stories of 10 D.C. residents (including our own Martin Austermuhle) on Metrobuses and other visible spots around the city. But recently we noticed that images of the posters available for download on the DC Vote web site now number only nine. Who was on that 10th poster? It was embattled Jim Graham chief of staff Ted Loza.

A creepy new development today in the ongoing federal investigation into allegations of widespread bribery attempts inside the D.C. taxicab industry, courtesy the Post's Del Quentin Wilber: court documents released today detail how one of the 39 men charged in the bribery ring, Yitbarek Syume, allegedly threatened to murder FBI informant Abdulaziz Kamus when his name surfaced in media reports shortly after the investigation became public.

The papers reveal that Yitbarek Syume met with an undercover FBI agent and an informant on the day after the top staffer of a prominent D.C. Council member was arrested on bribery charges. The three men discussed the high-profile arrest and how to avoid detection of their scheme, which funneled more than $300,000 to a D.C. government official, prosecutors wrote in court papers, citing a surreptitious recording of the meeting.

Federal authorities have arrested 27 people so far in a massive bribery case tied to the D.C. taxicab industry. Two indictments released today accuse a total of 39 individuals of conspiring to bribe city officials in order to obtain fraudulent taxi licenses between 2007 and 2009.

Even though a new Washington Post report today suggests D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) may not actually be a target of the corruption investigation that ensnared his chief of staff, the D.C. Republican Committee keeps hounding him like he definitely is.

After first merely postponing a hearing on his recently proposed taxicab legislation in the wake of related federal bribery charges against his chief of staff, Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham has gone ahead and withdrawn the bill entirely, Tim Craig is reporting at D.C. Wire. In a rich bit of political theater, Graham is also apparently trying to sell reporters on the notion that this decision has "nothing to do" with the charges against Ted Loza. "Graham said he is pulling the bill because of confusion and opposition within the taxicab industry to a medallion system." Suuuuuure.

Two big updates today on the ongoing federal bribery probe into Ted Loza, chief of staff to Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham.

Last week's arrest and indictment of Ted Loza, Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham's chief of staff, continues to put Graham in a rather unpleasant spotlight this morning. After WUSA9 first reported on Monday that the FBI investigation was also targeting the councilman, FOX-5 followed up last night with its own story, noting that Graham refused to go on the record all day on Monday in response to the allegations (earlier that morning when we saw him, Graham claimed he still hadn't read the story).

       

Dimmed luster, my ass! Regardless of the brewing Ted Loza/Jim Graham scandal, the folks who participated in this year's Fiesta DC did a great job putting on a colorful, fun, well-attended event that deserves to be judged apart from anything else. Here's just a few of the shots our Flickr contributors grabbed on Sunday in Mt. Pleasant.

Freshly delivered to our inbox is a press release from the office of D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1). The title? "Councilmember Graham Postpones Hearing on Taxicabs." Yeah, good call.

Do make sure to check out the Washington City Paper's latest update on the Marion Barry girlfriend contract saga, which reveals that a previous paramour of Barry's, Sharon Bowen (she's the one who lives in Ohio), had a job arrangement with the Ward 8 Council member that was remarkably similar to the one that Donna Watts-Brighthaupt did.

Like Watts-Brighthaupt, Bowen was tasked to work in the area of poverty research. According to her personal-services contract with the District, Bowen was paid to “conceptualize, design, plan and execute” a poverty summit for the council’s housing and urban affairs committee, which Barry chairs.

Continue reading "Marion Barry's Other Lady Friend/Employee"

The Post reported this afternoon that one more sentence has been handed down in the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement case. Walter R. Jones Jr., 34, the former Bank of America assistant branch manager who helped Harriette Walters deposit a total of 61 checks totaling almost $18 million, was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison today. Jones received approximately $360,000 from Walters for his participation in the scheme, a relatively small sum compared to his cohorts, who all together stole at least $50 million from District taxpayers. By all accounts Jones has been contrite and cooperative since his arrest and subsequent guilty plea, but he received a sentence roughly in the middle of the federal sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. noted in his decision that were it not for Jones and his position at Bank of America, "the scheme would not have continued for so long."

D.C. Wire has a fantastic tidbit from a series of internal Office of Tax and Revenue emails between District CFO Natwar Gandhi and embezzler of $50 million Harriette Walters. The emails, written in April of 2007, about seven months before the scandal broke, came about after Gandhi sent out an announcement to his employees letting them know that had decided not to accept an offer to become Amtrak’s CFO. Walters replied to Gandhi's staff-wide email with a brown-nosing note full of bad grammar: “Sir, I would like to say thank you for keeping us inform [sic] of a decision that would have impacted the employees within the CFO Cluster. I appreciate that you respected us to provide follow up to the recent news reports that we read and heard over the pat [sic] week. Thank You!” Gandhi then wrote back to Walters: “Thank you. Keep up the good work.”

Add one more to the growing list of folks involved in the massive Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal who have been sentenced to prison time. Marilyn Yoon, the Neiman Marcus saleswoman who was Harriette Walters' personal shopper, was sentenced yesterday to one year in jail. Yoon pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of property obtained by fraud, and also agreed to forfeit her home. The U.S. attorney's office said that Yoon should be credited with coming forward right away and expressing regret, and recommended the relatively lenient 12-month sentence.

Two more sentences have been handed down in the epic story of the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement case. The Post reports that Patricia Steven, 73, has been sentenced to five years and two months in prison for her role in the scam, while her estranged husband, Robert, 55, got three years and 10 months. Patricia Steven was a friend of Harriette Walters, and became involved in the embezzlement ring as early as 1990. Robert Steven appears to have received a lighter sentence due to his cooperation with prosecutors and claim that he was misled by his wife about where the money was coming from. The Stevens helped steal about $8 million of the roughly $50 million believed to have been taken in the Walters scam.

From the Post, we learn that Richard Walters, younger brother of Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement mastermind Harriette Walters, has been sentenced to four years and three months in prison for his role in the scheme. Richard Walters pleaded guilty in May to personally helping his sister steal $4.9 million of the over $50 million she stole altogether.

As expected, Harriette Walters entered a plea of guilty today, admitting to her role as the head of an elaborate scheme that pilfered almost $50 million from District of Columbia taxpayers.

Big scoop for the Examiner: Harriette Walters, the alleged mastermind behind the enormous Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal, will plead guilty. Walters is charged with heading up an elaborate scheme that resulted in $48 million worth of phony property-tax refunds. Nearly all of the eleven other people charged for their involvement in the scam have already pleaded guilty and presumably agreed to testify against Walters, had she gone forward with a trial.

Congress has probed the Interior Department and come out with hard allegations that members of the department have gotten drunk, used drugs and had sex with officials for the oil companies they allegedly regulate. The reports charge that those responsible for dictating where the oil companies can drill have let the drillers take them to parties at hotels and received their illicit gifts.

It's a really slow day for local news, so over on the DCist staff email list, all we're talking about is John Edwards. He's admitted to ABC News that he did have an affair with Rielle Hunter, and defends himself by saying that he didn't love her and that his wife, Elizabeth, was in remission at the time. Because, apparently, it would have been totally inexcusable of him to cheat while his wife was undergoing cancer treatment, but she was totally healthy then, so it's OK! What I can't figure out is why he had to confess to this right now unless there's some proof that he is the father of Hunter's child, even though he claims there's no way he can be.

Nice work by the Post's David Nakamura over at D.C. Wire -- he figured out that you can still call an old extension at the Office of Tax and Revenue and hear an outgoing message that begins, "You've reached the office of Harriette Walters." Apparently officials decided to keep the line active with Walters's voice message to see if anyone would leave a message for her that would aid investigators. We just gave it a call ourselves -- 202.442.6762 -- and indeed, there is Walters, sounding officious as she leaves instructions on how to reach her. Give it a call yourself if you've ever been curious what her voice sounds like, but do it fast. Odds are good the city is going to shut it down now that random residents are calling it for kicks.

As expected, former IRS employee Robert Steven, 55, pleaded guilty in federal court today for his involvement in the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue scandal. Steven remains free until he is sentenced on Oct. 8. The Post has a bit more information about the role Steven and his estranged wife Patricia played in the enormous embezzlement scheme.

A bank account set up by the couple in the name of a clothing design firm took in $9.2 million in embezzled funds from 1990 to 2007, according to prosecutors. Of that, $1.7 million was transferred into a Wachovia account used primarily by Robert Steven, according to court documents. With that money, Steven bought four cars, all Jaguars, as well as a home in Edgewater and numerous vacations to the Bahamas, prosecutors said.

The Post says that Robert Steven, a former division director of the IRS's New Carrollton office, appears set to plead guilty in federal court today for his involvement in the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue scandal. Steven and his estranged wife are both longtime friends of Harriette Walters and have both been charged; Steven's charges are listed as possession of stolen property and conspiring to commit money laundering. Missing from the story: did Steven's IRS expertise help to make the scam possible? We're looking forward to finding out if and when a plea agreement is announced.

The ax keeps coming down on the Harriette Walters crew. The Post is reporting that Walter Jones, 33, a former Bank of America manager from Essex, Md., has pleaded guilty to his role in the Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement case, which included laundering roughly $18 million, and personally receiving more than $366,000 in stolen money.

It's almost as if the District's Office of Tax and Revenue has been looking for more ways to come across as a bunch of buffoons. Today the Examiner reports on how one persistent Capitol Hill resident, Noah Meyerson, was responsible for forcing the office to fix an error they had not even detected which allowed roughly 300 homeowners to skip out on an entire property tax payment last year.

Howard University's soccer coach was arrested Friday in Louisa County, Va., for attempting to meet with an underage girl for a sexual encounter. The girl turned out to be an undercover police officer posing online as a 13-year-old.