A judge denied D.C. Council member Trayon White’s motion to dismiss his federal bribery case last week. The trial is set to move forward and will begin in a few months.
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The Ward 8 council member was arrested in August 2024 and is accused of accepting $35,000 in cash bribes to influence city contracts. Prosecutors say he agreed to accept $156,000 from a business owner in exchange for pressuring D.C. government employees at two different agencies to extend those contracts.
White was expelled from the council in late 2024 but was reelected months later.
He has pleaded not guilty.
In a decision issued last week, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said White’s jury trial is set to begin in September.
White had requested the bribery charge be dismissed, stating that each of the four alleged payments should be tried as separate offenses, according to court documents. The court denied this motion and said “the four payments CHS-1 made to Mr. White between June and August 2024 were part of a single, continuing scheme.”
White also asked the court to preclude, or rule out, any evidence relating to his gambling, arguing it “plays prejudicially on class stereotypes and other prejudicial preconceptions.” The prosecution disputed that, saying the evidence is necessary and that it can show White “spending substantial amounts of money on chips at a casino shortly after receiving the envelops of cash from CHS-1.”
The judge denied that request abut noted in court documents that “the stigma may be higher when the gambling conduct involves a public official.”
Also denied were two requests by the prosecution, including one seeking to prevent White from arguing he was entrapped by law enforcement.
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