Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White Sr. (D) was arrested on bribery charges, according to a statement released by the US Attorney’s Office for DC Monday.
White was arrested by the FBI at a Navy Yard apartment building the afternoon of Sunday, August 18.
White, 40, is current Chair of the DC Council Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs, which oversees several agencies including the DC Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS).
The USAO alleges that, beginning in June 2024, White agreed to accept $156,000 in cash in exchange for using his position as councilmember to pressure government employees at the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) and DYRS to extend contracts.
USAO said the contracts at issue were valued at $5.2 million and were for two companies to provide violence intervention services in DC.
The complaint alleges the $156,000 White agreed to accept in exchange for using his official position to pressure renewal of those contracts to particular companies was worth three percent of the total contract value.
According to USAO, White’s agreement with the owner of the companies, who has not been named, was captured on video. That includes payments to White of $35,000 in cash on four separate occasions (June 26, July 17, July 25, and August 9, 2024). Also captured, the statement says, was a moment when a source shows White a document reflecting how White’s three-percent cut was calculated based on those contracts.
Court documents indicate that the information came to light as a result of a plea agreement with a business owner. One company, the documents say, “holds itself out as a community-based initiative to serve high-risk youths and adults throughout DC and Maryland.”
As part of a guilty plea in a bank fraud case, the defendent agreed to disclose other prior criminal conduct. According to a court affadavit from an FBI agent, he reported “a corrupt relationship with White.”
According to the source, between January 2019 and May 2020, a period during which contracts between his business and the District government were in dispute, “White agreed to accept and accepted a $20,000 bribe payment from CHS 1 in return for using his official position as a Councilmember Case to help [the owner] resolve this contract dispute.”
In 2016, the business owner had entered into a multi-year Human Care Agreement (HCA) with the DC Department of Human Services (DHS). But in 2019, the company had been found in default of when the DHS determined that background check documents had been falsified and terminated the agreement. The company appealed.
According to the affadavit, White agreed to use his position to pressure government officials to resolve that dispute over payment and future business. The affidavit does not mention any recordings of the source making the $20,000 payment alleged to have been made to White in 2020 or prior. However, the affadavit notes that White and the source apparently discussed this arrangement during a meeting on July 17, 2024.
The arrest and charge was announced by US Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew M. Graves Monday.
Graves said speed was needed to the nature of the charges. “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,” Graves said in a USAO statement.
White is a protégée of former Mayor Marion Barry. He was first elected to represent Ward 8 in 2016. White won the Democratic nomination for the November 2024 election to resume the role for what would be his third term.
White appeared in court August and was charged with one count of bribery of a public official. He was released on his own recognizance with conditions that include the surrender of his port.
He is due back in court Sept. 19.
This story is updating.
