More bribes? Trayon White informant paid DC government employee $230K for confidential info, according to plea deal

WASHINGTON — Court documents newly unsealed this week suggest additional shoes may be yet to drop against D.C. government officials and employees accused of taking bribes related to lucrative violence intervention contracts in the city.

On Tuesday, a federal judge unsealed a plea agreement on bank fraud and bribery charges entered into by Allieu Badara Kamara Jr. Kamara was, until recently, the executive director of Life Deeds, a non-profit organization WUSA9 reported in August was linked to the bribery allegations against Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White.

Kamara stepped down as executive director of Life Deeds after White’s arrest in August. In a statement on its website, the nonprofit said the decision for Kamara to leave the organization was “made mutually in the best interests of both parties.”

The charges against Kamara stem from two separate schemes – one, a plan to defraud the pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program out of millions of dollars and, two, a separate bribery scheme involving contracts administered by the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA).

According to Kamara’s plea, between April 2020 and August 2022, he and at least three co-conspirators plotted to submit false and fraudulent PPP loan applications. As part of the deal, business owners who received the loans would pay out a portion to Kamara and an accountant for several of his own businesses who prepared the applications.

In total, Kamara said he and his co-conspirators submitted at least 23 fraudulent PPP loan applications worth more than $3 million. They included a loan that was eventually approved and forgiven for more than $300,000 for a real estate business despite that business having no employees or payroll.

Of the total amount received as part of the PPP scheme, Kamara admitted to receiving more than $620,000 in kickbacks.

According to the plea deal, between January 2019 and December 2023 Kamara was also engaged in a scheme to bribe a CFSA contract specialist – who was also allegedly one of his co-conspirators in the PPP loan scheme – to receive confidential information about contracts and grants being awarded by the agency. In total, Kamara said businesses he controlled, including Life Deeds and District Services Management, which he owns, received more than $2 million in contracts over that period. In exchange, Kamara said he paid the contract specialist at least $233,520.

The plea deal, which was entered in August but only unsealed this week, reveals new information about the investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of White on unrelated bribery charges. The plea is also the first time allegations of bribery at CFSA have been revealed. WUSA9 reached out to a CFSA spokesperson Thursday for comment on the filing, but did not immediately hear back.

White, who was first elected to represent Ward 8 in 2016, is accused of accepting envelopes full of cash amounting to $35,000 in exchange for using his position on the D.C. Council to pressure government agencies to renew lucrative public safety contracts with organizations controlled by an unnamed confidential human source (CHS). White allegedly expected to receive more than $150,000 in kickbacks if the contracts were renewed.

Although neither Life Deeds’ nor Kamara’s names appear in filings related to White’s arrest, WUSA9 was able to identify Life Deeds as one of the organizations involved from details about the contracts included in charging documents against White. Other details about the CHS’ plea deal in White’s indictment match those of the documents unsealed against Kamara this week.

According to filings in White’s case, the CHS entered into a plea agreement on Aug. 9, and executed the agreement in court on Aug. 16, on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bribery. The plea agreement in Kamara’s case – on the same charges – was signed on Aug. 9 and executed before a federal magistrate judge on Aug. 16. The filings in White’s case also indicate the CHS pleaded guilty to obtaining fraudulent PPP loans and to “other corruption offenses, including bribery of a District of Columbia official.”

Federal investigators said White appeared on their radar when the CHS, as part of a cooperation agreement, reported a previous $20,000 bribe to White to help resolve a contract dispute between his company and the city. In 2019, D.C. terminated a $3 million contract with Life Deeds, then controlled by Kamara, for managing a shelter for homeless families. At the time, city officials said Life Deeds was falsifying background checks on staff members.

According to filings in White’s case, the dispute he was bribed to help resolve involved a contract with the city to provide case management services for families experiencing homelessness which was terminated in January 2019 when the D.C. Department of Human Services determined the majority of the background check documents submitted by the company were falsified. The city settled its dispute with Life Deeds in May 2020.

White is accused of accepting a new round of bribes beginning in June 2024 to use his position on the council to pressure employees at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services to renew contracts and grants worth millions of dollars. White has pleaded not guilty to the charges and, during a meeting with constituents last month, has said he has no plans to resign from the council.

“I’m still here and I ain’t going nowhere,” White said. “I believe God is going to do something miraculous in our ward and I plan on being here when it happens.”

WUSA9 made repeated efforts to reach Kamara following White’s arrest, but never received a response. A Life Deeds employee told WUSA9 in August the organization was still operating violence interruption services in Wards 1 and 4.

Under the terms of Kamara’s plea agreement, he will face an estimated guideline range of 7.5-10 years in prison at sentencing. As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed to submit what’s known as a 5K letter supporting a downward departure if the U.S. Attorney’s Office determines Kamara has provided “substantial assistance” to the office. As of Thursday, no sentencing date had been set.