D.C. Council Member Trayon White will continue to represent Ward 8 after a decisive victory in Tuesday night’s election. His victory, obtained less than three months after his arrest by the FBI and accused of corruption linked to his relations with the Council, raises questions. White has pleaded not guilty, but now that he’s back in office for another four-year term, what happens if he’s found guilty?

White is expected in court Nov. 13 for a status hearing. He will be represented by federal public defenders, following a reshuffle in his defense team at the end of last month. But the road to a final verdict could be long.

What would it take to convict White?

Randall Eliason spent eight years working in the Public Corruption and Government Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, serving as chief of the division between 1999 and 2001. Today, he teaches a course on white-collar crime at George Washington University. University Faculty of Law. Washingtonian asked for his help in breaking down the FBI’s case against White.

Simply put, “the federal government’s allegation is that (White) took something of value – in this case, cash – in exchange for exercising his official powers in some way or manner.” another for the benefit of the bribe,” Eliason says, calling White’s approach “classic.” white collar crime case. Prosecutors say White took money from a confidential informant and agreed to pressure various government agencies to extend contracts in exchange. According to Eliason, “the evidence that he actually took money from this guy is going to be pretty damning,” since the indictment includes photos of White allegedly accepting payment from the informant and captures of screen of WhatsApp conversations between the two.

As such, the prosecution’s assertion that White accepted bribes will not “necessarily be in dispute,” Eliason says. “That’s true in many white-collar cases because there is a paper trail.” However, White taking money from the informant is not enough to convict him of corruption.

Eliason expects 2016 Supreme Court case to set precedent McDonnell v. United States weigh heavily on the outcome of White’s trial. That verdict, in favor of the defendant, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, “narrowed federal corruption laws, including this one, to say the government must prove that what the official did in exchange for the bribe was a… in quotes. — “official act”,” in Eliason’s words.

By McDonnell, Setting up a meeting, chatting with colleagues and other “routine actions that a public official might take” are not considered official acts, Eliason says. “For it to be an official act, it must be something in which the public official actually acts or decides on a particular question or problem brought before him and which he has the power to resolve. » This could include, for example, providing a grant or pressuring another elected official to advance a specific agenda.

The prosecution’s evidence that White committed an official act in exchange for the bribe is “not overwhelming,” Eliason said. One allegation in the indictment that stands out is that White told “Government Employee 3” (a high-ranking official in Washington’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement) that he would not support their permanent appointment to their position if they did not approve. a contract between the whistleblower’s company and ONSE.

“It could potentially be an official act, because now it puts pressure on the person who has that power to decide to award the contract in a certain way,” according to Eliason. But he is skeptical that other conduct cited in the indictment — for example, White’s statement that he “talked” to representatives of ONSE and the Department of Rehabilitation Services DC youth about informant’s contracts – will be satisfied.

“Not everything that is wrong or corrupt is actually criminal,” Eliason says. “And I think whether they can prove official acts is probably going to end up being the key question in this case.”

What’s next for Ward 8?

As an incumbent Democrat running for office in the district in a presidential election year, White’s victory was more or less inevitable: He ultimately received about 84 percent of the vote in his race against his Republican challenger, Nate Derenge. “Because of that, we didn’t put a lot of energy into finding someone viable to run against him this time around,” says Washington City Paper political journalist Alex Koma.

Even though the legal proceedings against White are ongoing, pressure is mounting on the Council to oust him as soon as possible. According to Koma, “the Council is realistic and would much rather not have to vote to evict him,” given the enthusiastic support for White among a number of Ward 8 residents. “I think if they are there forced, they will do it in January or February,” says Koma.

If White were removed from the Council, a number of Ward 8 political figures could be in the running to replace him. Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8C representative Salim Adofo and Rahman Branch, former executive director of the Mayor’s Office of African-American Affairs, both competed against White in the Washington Council primary election earlier this year. “They benefit from having their names and faces appear on campaign signs and in mailers,” Koma says.

If Ward 8 needed new representation on the Council, Koma said he wouldn’t expect a close race to fill it. “There hasn’t been a race for an open seat – without an incumbent president – ​​since 2014, and every time that happens, it fuels interest, because a lot of good Democrats don’t want to prioritize a other Democrat,” especially when that incumbent’s fan base is as strong as White’s, according to Koma. “All those people who were nervously hoping that he would decide to go away, now have a window.”