Scoop: D.C. contractor guilty of giving bribes still has piece of lottery contract
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A D.C. firm tied to an unfolding bribery scandal continues to be involved in a controversial city contract for lottery and sports betting.
Why it matters: The fallout from Council member Trayon White's arrest over allegations he took kickbacks is raising more questions about where D.C. spends taxpayer dollars.
Catch up fast: Businessman Allieu Kamara pleaded guilty this year to fraud and bribing city officials to gain program contracts for needy families and violence prevention. Kamara's plea deal included an agreement to be a cooperative witness.
- Prosecutors haven't publicly identified the informant, but details in an FBI affidavit suggest Kamara is the one who cooperated with the FBI to offer White envelopes of cash. (White has pleaded not guilty.)
One of Kamara's firms, District Services Management, became a subcontractor to D.C.'s $215 million, no-bid contract with Intralot in 2019 to manage the city's lottery and sports gambling app.
- Headquartered at Kamara's home address in Southeast, the firm would "host [the] primary data center and provide cloud services for [the] sports betting system," according to contract documents. The firm would make $1.2 million over the five years of the deal.
The intrigue: On July 16 — three weeks before prosecutors charged Kamara — D.C. granted a one-year extension of the Intralot contract for $33 million.
- "DSM is still a part of Intralot's subcontracting plan," Melissa Davis, a spokesperson for the D.C. Lottery agency, tells Axios.
- It's unclear how much District Services Management makes in the contract extension (although it's likely six figures), whether Kamara still leads the firm and if DSM has employees.
- The firm is registered with D.C. as a "small veteran owned business" specializing in "janitorial/custodial services" and "data processing."
While some of DSM's contracts for other city work were linked to the bribery scheme, per court documents, Intralot and the lottery contract are not implicated.
Kamara and his attorneys declined to comment to Axios.
Between the lines: City agencies and officials won't say whether DSM is or should be reviewed.
- The D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development, which oversees subcontractor compliance, did not return Axios' questions about DSM. The agency has come under scrutiny after a 2021 audit alleged that it wasn't tracking whether firms like District Services Management are "actively participating on the contract and performing meaningful work."
- Council member Kenyan McDuffie, who chairs the business committee overseeing the lottery, was traveling and couldn't comment in time for publication, his deputy chief of staff Jonathan McNair told Axios on Monday.