Jeff Thompson leaves his March 2014 plea hearing
Jeff Thompson leaves his March 2014 plea hearing Credit: Darrow Montgomery

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New court files have revealed more details about the criminal charge against former high-ranking Office of the City Administrator Warren Graves, including a surprise connection to Vince Gray shadow campaign mastermind Jeff Thompson.

Prosecutors charged Graves, the chief of staff for City Administrator Allen Lew during the Gray administration, earlier this month on evading taxes on more than $120,000 worth of income. Now Graves’ statement of offense, released today, reveals more about where Graves was getting that money.

According to the court filing, Graves, once one of the most well-connected players in District government, created a consulting firm in 2005 that would arrange meetings between city officials and businesses. For setting up the meetings, Graves earned “a future stream of payments” from the companies. 

Graves’ deal becomes more suspicious when you consider that Graves started working for the District government in 2009, but continued with his “consulting” work for businesses through 2011 while still on the government payroll. Then, Graves continued to be paid for previous deals through 2013, even as he continued working for the city. 

A prosecution sentencing memo for Thompson made public Friday also introduces a connection between Graves and the shadow campaign financier. Graves is listed as one of the people charged “as a result of [Thompson]’s cooperation,” even though there’s no obvious link between Graves or his side business and Thompson’s illegal campaign efforts. 

Neither the U.S. Attorney’s Office responded or Graves’s attorney responded to LL’s questions about the case. But Graves has been charged in a criminal information, suggesting that he may be cooperating with prosecutors. If so, the District’s years long political shake-up might not be over yet.