Results tagged “investigation”

Federal authorities believe former D.C. Taxicab Commission chairman Causton Toney participated in a long-running bribery scheme while he held that position from 2005-2007, the Washington Post reports this morning. A recently unsealed affidavit lays out the FBI's suspicions against Toney, who has not been charged with any crime, but whose home was raided in October.

As the political fracas continues over the $82 million in parks and rec contracts that D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty quietly funneled through the D.C. Housing Authority (much of it handed to contractors with cozy ties to the mayor), members of the D.C. Council are demanding accountability. None more so than Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large). Or not. No, he is. Really. We think.

If you've been following the large-scale FBI investigation into attempts to bribe public officials associated with the D.C. taxicab industry, you've got to read Jason Cherkis's cover story this week in the Washington City Paper. Cherkis spent some time with a few of the 30+ men named in the indictment, and found that federal prosecutors may well be overreaching in their attempts to prosecute some of these guys.

When D.C. voting rights advocacy organization DC Vote launched its "I Am DC" ad campaign earlier this summer, it placed posters featuring the faces and stories of 10 D.C. residents (including our own Martin Austermuhle) on Metrobuses and other visible spots around the city. But recently we noticed that images of the posters available for download on the DC Vote web site now number only nine. Who was on that 10th poster? It was embattled Jim Graham chief of staff Ted Loza.

A creepy new development today in the ongoing federal investigation into allegations of widespread bribery attempts inside the D.C. taxicab industry, courtesy the Post's Del Quentin Wilber: court documents released today detail how one of the 39 men charged in the bribery ring, Yitbarek Syume, allegedly threatened to murder FBI informant Abdulaziz Kamus when his name surfaced in media reports shortly after the investigation became public.

The papers reveal that Yitbarek Syume met with an undercover FBI agent and an informant on the day after the top staffer of a prominent D.C. Council member was arrested on bribery charges. The three men discussed the high-profile arrest and how to avoid detection of their scheme, which funneled more than $300,000 to a D.C. government official, prosecutors wrote in court papers, citing a surreptitious recording of the meeting.

Even though a new Washington Post report today suggests D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) may not actually be a target of the corruption investigation that ensnared his chief of staff, the D.C. Republican Committee keeps hounding him like he definitely is.

After first merely postponing a hearing on his recently proposed taxicab legislation in the wake of related federal bribery charges against his chief of staff, Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham has gone ahead and withdrawn the bill entirely, Tim Craig is reporting at D.C. Wire. In a rich bit of political theater, Graham is also apparently trying to sell reporters on the notion that this decision has "nothing to do" with the charges against Ted Loza. "Graham said he is pulling the bill because of confusion and opposition within the taxicab industry to a medallion system." Suuuuuure.

Two big updates today on the ongoing federal bribery probe into Ted Loza, chief of staff to Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham.

Last week's arrest and indictment of Ted Loza, Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham's chief of staff, continues to put Graham in a rather unpleasant spotlight this morning. After WUSA9 first reported on Monday that the FBI investigation was also targeting the councilman, FOX-5 followed up last night with its own story, noting that Graham refused to go on the record all day on Monday in response to the allegations (earlier that morning when we saw him, Graham claimed he still hadn't read the story).

Hey wow, we had almost managed to forget about the ongoing investigation into a bribery and shady contracting ring operating out of the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer. The Post is reporting that a fourth person has been charged in the case. Sarosh Mir, 44, of Herndon was charged last week with conspiring to commit wire fraud. Mir worked for Sushil Bansal, the outside contractor who has been charged with conspiring with OCTO employees Yusuf Acar and Farrukh Awan to steer contracts to Bansal's company, in exchange for bribes.

Yesterday WTOP's Adam Tuss broke the news that Matthew Matyuf, Metro's superintendent of the Automatic Train Control Division, was back on the job for the first time since the June 22 Red Line crash (the Post followed up this morning). Days after the crash, which an ongoing NTSB investigation has tied to a faulty track circuit within the rail system's automatic train controls, Matyuf was reassigned to a "special project," but as of Monday, he's returned to his normal duties. The move turns out to be tied to this piece of news, also from WTOP, that the NTSB is reportedly close to wrapping up the initial part of its investigation and is expected to make a major announcement on its findings in the next couple of days. Matyuf was moved away from his primary assignments in order to "preserve and protect the integrity" of the crash investigation, the Post reports, but now that the most intensive part of that investigation is wrapping up, he's been allowed to get back to work.

Red Line delays related to the ongoing NTSB investigation will continue through at least Thursday morning's rush hour, Metro announced on Sunday night. The last time WMATA gave us an estimate for how much longer delays affecting the Red Line due to the June 22 crash would go on, they offered July 19 as the best case scenario, but it seems that was overly optimistic. Metro's announcement also makes it plain that they can't be sure that Thursday will be the end of it: "At this point, it is unclear what the NTSB's needs may be after Thursday morning’s rush hour and the impact on Metrorail service. In the meantime, passengers can expect that their trips may take an additional 30 minutes or possibly more to complete, and they should build that added time into their plans." The delays are caused by trains being forced to move one at a time at a reduced speed between Takoma and Fort Totten, while investigators continue their work at the crash site.

A lot of you have been asking us when the Red Line will start running its normal number of trains and at regular speeds during rush hour, and today Metro offered an answer of sorts: it's going to be another 10 days, at a minimum. WMATA says Red Line riders should expect the same packed trains through July 19, thanks to ongoing reduced rush hour service during the NTSB investigation of the June 22 crash. Between now and July 19, Red Line trains will continue to move one at a time at a reduced speed between Takoma and Fort Totten, which is the source of most of the current Red Line troubles -- fewer trains can move along the line due to the change, and trains can more easily become backed up. The Takoma station will also continue to close at 10 p.m. for at least the next 10 nights as investigators continue their work. There's no guarantee in this Metro announcement that July 19 will be the last of it, either. Merely, word is that July 19 is the best case scenario.

WMATA says we should continue to expect the Takoma Metro station to close early, at 10 p.m., both tonight and Tuesday night. They've been issuing these warnings piece-meal as decisions are made, only giving us the status for the next couple of days at a time. Tuesday could be the last night of early closings due to the ongoing Red Line Crash investigation, or we could see another advisory on Tuesday for the rest of the week. We'll keep you posted.

The National Transportation Safety Board has put up a second advisory today on its web site regarding the most recent findings of its investigation of the June 22 Red Line crash. In it, we learn for the first time that the train control system track circuit where the accident occurred -- the same one that investigators initially found to be not functioning properly after testing it during the first couple of days after the crash -- was replaced by WMATA maintenance crews on June 17, five days before the accident. From the advisory:

After a post- accident review of recorded track circuit data, WMATA reported to the NTSB that the track circuit periodically lost its ability to detect trains after June 17th; the NTSB is reviewing documentation on the performance of that track circuit both before and after the June 17th replacement.

The Red Line may be running its entire route in both directions now, but the ongoing NTSB investigation continues to affect service near the crash site. Metro has announced that the Takoma Metro station will close at 10 p.m. tonight, Tuesday and Wednesday, and possibly more days later this week, to allow investigators access to the area. The station will reopen at 5 a.m. every morning, at its regular time. While the Takoma station is closed between 10 p.m. and midnight, the Red Line will run only from Glenmont to Silver Spring and then from Fort Totten to Shady Grove. Shuttle buses will take riders around the closed station.

More OCTO updates!

District residents are understandably disturbed by yesterday's lead revelations in the Washington Post, and the D.C. Council has gone ahead and scheduled a hearing to address environmental and health concerns. The Committee on Government Operations and the Environment hearing is set for February 10 at 11 a.m. at the John A. Wilson Building, Room 412. Committee chair Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) will hold the hearing jointly with Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who oversees WASA.