Informant in D.C. council member’s bribery case also bribed city employee, defrauded COVID loans

The informant who assisted federal authorities in their ongoing bribery case against D.C. council member Trayon White pleaded guilty to defrauding a pandemic-era loan program and to offering a bribe to a city employee to steer contracts to his business, according to court documents unsealed Thursday.

The plea agreement said Allieu Badara Kamara Jr. plotted to defraud the federal Paycheck Protection Program of millions of dollars during one scheme, and coordinated with a D.C. Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) employee to rig the bidding process in his favor in another.

Prosecutors said Kamara agreed to help in other investigations as part of his plea.

The agreement was sealed until last week because officials said he was a cooperating witness in an unspecified case, and authorities didn’t want to jeopardize the investigation by making his name public.

While prosecutors have not said who their informant is in the case against council member White, Kamara entered the plea on the same date in August and under the same charges as prosecutors’ “confidential human source” did.  

Similarities to the city’s history with nonprofit Life Deeds — where Kamara stepped down as executive director in August — are also evident in the charges against Mr. White.

Prosecutors said the politician settled a contract dispute with an unnamed company that provided services for homeless families in May 2020. 

The dispute started because the city discovered the company falsified background checks for its employees.

The city ended its $3 million contract with Life Deeds, which provided services for homeless families in the District, in January 2019 after the local government found it was submitting phony background checks for staff members. The city resolved its dispute with Life Deeds in May 2020.

Mr. White, 40, is accused of agreeing to accept roughly $156,000 in kickbacks in exchange for pressuring city employees to extend two companies’ contracts for violence intervention services.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges last month.

Kamara could face up to 10 years behind bars, according to his plea, but prosecutors also agreed to vouch for a reduced sentence because of his cooperation.

No sentencing date has been scheduled for Kamara.

During the PPP loan scheme, Kamara admitted to pocketing more than $620,000 in kickbacks from the businesses that he helped secure the fraudulent loans from April 2020 to August 2022.

Prosecutors said he and at least three co-conspirators applied for more than $3 million in federal relief money intended for small businesses, including a $300,000 loan for a real estate company that was approved despite having no employees.

The CFSA scheme ran from January 2019 to December 2023, the plea agreement said, and involved a D.C. government employee sharing confidential information with Kamara about rival bidders so he could undercut their offers.

The filing said the scheme helped Kamara get more than $2 million for District Services Management, which he owns, and Life Deeds, where he was the executive director.

The agreement said Kamara paid the D.C. government employee, who wasn’t identified, over $233,000 for their help.

“We are reviewing the documents unsealed earlier today by the U.S. District Court and are continuing our internal review of contracts and grants awarded to Life Deeds and its affiliates,” City Administrator Kevin Donahue told local CBS affiliate WUSA in a statement.

Prosecutors said Mr. White took about $35,000 in cash from the informant over the summer.

According to the court documents, Mr. White allegedly told the informant that, “Once you and I lock eyes and gets to an understanding, I gets to work. I can start making s—- happen.”

The violence prevention contracts were coming from the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement and the Department of Youth and Rehabilitation Services — the latter of which Mr. White directly oversaw as chairman of the council’s Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs.

The council voted to disband the committee last month in light of the charges brought against Mr. White.

The Ward 8 Democrat will seek to be reelected for a third term in November, where he is a heavy favorite.

Mr. White is due back in court a week after election day in the District.