D.C. Council member arrested on federal bribery charges

D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. was arrested Sunday on federal bribery charges, the Justice Department announced Monday.

A criminal complaint alleges that, starting in June, White agreed to accept $156,000 in cash payments in exchange for leveraging his role as a D.C. Council member to pressure government employees at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services to extend several contracts in the district.

White, 40, made his initial appearance in a packed federal courtroom shortly after noon Monday and was released pending further proceedings. White, who did not enter a plea, was largely silent, speaking only to answer questions from Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey. He appeared wearing a gray sweatshirt, black pants and gray sneakers.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The conditions of release include a requirement to surrender his passport and any guns he may own, as well as a requirement that he notify pretrial services when traveling outside the Washington region and seek the court’s permission for any international travel. He is also forbidden from speaking to witnesses about the case except in the presence of counsel — a requirement that he will have to be careful to abide by, because several of the witnesses in the case are city government employees he interacts with as part of his position.

White is the chairman of the D.C. Council’s committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs, which oversees several agencies, including the city’s Youth Rehabilitation Services Department.

The contracts White is alleged to have to pressure government employees to extend were valued at $5.2 million and were designated for two companies to provide violence intervention services in the district, according to the complaint.

The $156,000, paid out in four separate payments, amounted to 3% of the total contract value, according to the complaint. The arrangement with the owner of the two companies was caught on video, the complaint said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the FBI Washington Field Office, the D.C. Office of the Inspector General and the IRS Criminal Investigation Washington Field Office are handling the investigation.

“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 Matthew Graves said in a statement announcing White’s arrest.

White was arrested around 2 p.m. Sunday, a spokesperson for the D.C. Council told NBC News. The spokesperson, Lindsey Walton, said the council was not previously aware of an investigation into White.

The council did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment on Monday. A spokesperson for White did not immediately return a request for comment.

White has been representing the city’s Ward 8 since 2017. He won the Democratic primary for a third term in June.

His next court appearance will be a status hearing Sept. 19.