Scoop: D.C. cuts ties with contractor guilty of giving bribes
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Sports books operated by D.C. Photo: John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty Images
D.C. on Friday removed a firm implicated in a bribery scandal from a lottery and sports gambling contract.
Why it matters: The firm, District Services Management, is owned by Allieu Kamara, a city contractor who pleaded guilty in August to bribing city officials to receive a wide array of contracts worth millions of dollars.
Driving the news: D.C. revoked the firm's certification and cut it from the lottery contract two days after Axios confirmed its continued involvement.
Catch up quick: District Services Management got in the lottery business in 2019, serving as a subcontractor for D.C.'s $215 million, no-bid contract with Intralot to operate the city's troubled Gambet DC app. DSM took home $1.2 million in the deal.
- In mid-July, D.C. approved a one-year extension.
- Three weeks later, federal prosecutors charged Kamara with bribery and fraud over different city contracts.
Follow the money: DSM was to make $217,000, according to extended contract documents newly obtained by Axios.
- It would provide "staff augmentation services for managed warehousing for Intralot, on 'as needed' basis" and assist with "distribution" and "installation services for Intralot equipment."
- Under the original 2019 contract, DSM was responsible for providing the "primary data center" host for the sports betting system.
How much did Kamara's firm get paid before being cut? A spokesperson for D.C.'s chief financial officer did not immediately return Axios' request for comment.
It's unclear if DSM had any employees, or if Kamara was still involved after his indictment.
- Kamara is listed as CEO in the contract documents. DSM is headquartered at his home address in Southeast.
Between the lines: Details in an FBI affidavit suggest Kamara is the cooperating witness who offered Council member Trayon White envelopes of cash, though prosecutors haven't publicly identified the informant.
- White was arrested in August and has pleaded not guilty.
The intrigue: As the bribery scandal made headlines, Intralot requested to remove District Services Management from the lottery contract on Sept. 12, according to a letter from the D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development.
- It's unclear why it took seven weeks, but a letter from the department's director, Rosemary Suggs-Evans, informed Intralot's general counsel on Friday that the agency "grants Intralot's request and hereby permits it to remove DSM."