Federal bribery trial for DC Council member ends in mistrial

Trayon White Sr. faced one court of bribery for accepting approximately $156,000 in kickback payments and faced up to 15 years, but prosecutors may seek to retry him.WASHINGTON (CN) — A federal judge declared a mistrial Monday in the federal bribery case against D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. after jurors were unable to reach a consensus whether to convict.Jurors informed U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, a Barack Obama appointee, that they were deadlocked after more than three days of deliberation — and after reviewing hidden camera footage depicting White accepting approximately $156,000 from an FBI informant.White, a Democrat who represents Ward 8 in southeastern Washington, faced up to 15 years in prison and would have been removed from office if found guilty. He was arrested in August 2024 and pleaded not guilty to a single count of bribery in September 2024.The lack of a decision leaves open the door for federal prosecutors to retry the case before a new jury, leaving White in further legal limbo as to his position on the D.C. City Council.According to prosecutors, White accepted the payments from an FBI informant — now identified as Allieu Kamara, his brother-in-law and a government contractor who pleaded guilty in 2024 to taking a $230,000 bribe — in a “quid pro quo” deal to help Kamara’s homeless services company Life Deeds.At opening arguments, Justice Department prosecutor John Crabb Jr. presented videos from four separate meetings during the summer of 2024 where Kamara handed over envelopes containing thousands of dollars in cash as part of a purported deal to pay White 3% of the proceeds from Kamara’s government contracts. The contracts were worth more than $5 million.“Once you get me, if you lock eyes and get your understanding, I get to work,” White said to Kamara, which Crabb highlighted throughout his opening arguments.That comment, Crabb argued, meant White was willing to defraud the D.C. government, violate his official duties as an elected official and “sell his office as a D.C. Council member.”Warren Kohlman, White’s defense attorney, portrayed Kamara as the primary offender, citing his history of engaging in government contract fraud, including through the Covid-19 Paycheck Protection Program, and calling him “corrupt to the bone.”The FBI used Kamara to induce White into committing a crime, Kohlman argued, describing their relationship as making the scheme “almost biblical.” But White did not take the bait, he said.“If there’s no quid pro quo, there’s nothing wrong, and it’s certainly not bribery,” Kohlman told the jury. He argued Kamara needed a “get-out-of-jail-free card” to avoid prison time stemming from the 2024 plea deal, and found it in White.Over three meetings, Kamara paid White $5,000, $10,000 and another $5,000, with the supposed 3% kickback deal set to provide White up to $141,000 more.During their deliberations, the jury asked Contreras several legal questions, including whether it is still bribery if White accepted the money to perform an official act without any intent of actually following through.Kohlman urged jurors at closing arguments to consider his client’s state of mind and take note of testimony from D.C. public safety officials that, while he was paid to meet them on Kamara’s behalf, White never did.“What was in his state of mind?” Kohlman asked. “How do you determine that? You determine that, ladies and gentlemen, by what he did — not only what he said, but what he actually did.”Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Ross pointed in her closing arguments to White’s interaction with Kwelli Sneed, then-interim director of the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, which suggested he would withhold his support for her confirmation without extending a contract for Life Deeds to operate in additional wards.However, Sneed testified that while the suggestion seemed strange considering Life Deeds did not operate in Ward 8, she never felt threatened or pressured to do anything.According to hidden camera footage from a subsequent meeting between White and Kamara, White said he could not be as “direct” with Sneed because there was another person present, which prosecutors highlighted as evidence of criminal intent.“The evidence does not need to be explicit,” Ross told jurors in the government’s closing arguments. “Knowing winks and nods is enough.”White, who took office as council member in 2017, was expelled from office in February 2025 following his bribery indictment. But in a July 2025 special election, voters in Ward 8 narrowly restored him to office by 252 votes, beating fellow Democrats Sheila Bunn, Mike Austin and Salim Adofo.White welcomed the result in a statement, maintained his innocence and said the prosecution’s case against him was weak.“I feel like I’m redeemed again,” White said. “There was never a quid pro quo.”U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro vowed to retry White’s case and secure a guilty verdict in an emailed statement.“We have video showing piles of cash being given to a D.C. council member as part of a $156,000 bribe,” Pirro said. “Rest assured that we will retry this case and every corruption case to verdict.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads