LL cycled down through the drizzle to the District's federal courthouse this morning to catch a hearing in the Ted Loza bribery case.

Things have been rather quiet in the prosecution of Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham's former chief of staff, and LL was hoping prosecutors might be filing the new charges they've indicated that might be on the way. Alas, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Crabb told LL no such charges would be forthcoming today.

So LL turned around and left, exiting through the courthouse annex. A few steps up 3rd Street NW, lo and behold, was Loza, running late for his 10:15 hearing. It was the first time LL had encountered him since his arrest.

"Life is good," Loza said, dressed in blue suit and red tie.

Conversation quickly moved to the state of his case: "I'm innocent. This is bullshit," he told LL, declining to speak in any further detail.

He proceeded take umbrage at LL's reporting last fall on Loza and his personal and professional dealings. "You didn't do me any justice," he said.

There's always next time, LL replied.

Loza's trial was set today for Oct. 4—bad news, incidentally, for Graham's Democratic challengers who might have enjoyed some pre-election bad press for the incumbent. Only an independent or Republican will be in a position to make political hay out of any revelations that might be aired at trial.

File photo by Darrow Montgomery

In the past few weeks, City Desk and everyone else praised Taxicab Commission Chairperson Leon Swain Jr. for his starring role as a police informant. The audio evidence is pretty clear that Swain is one talented actor. David Simon needs to put Swain in his next series.

Swain performed on hours and hours of F.B.I- produced tapes for roughly two years. But is there a case to be made that maybe Swain overacted, that he was too good in the role?

We interviewed a few of the defendants accused of trying to illegally obtain taxicab licenses. They are among the more than 30 who've been charged with conspiracy to commit bribery. What did they do?

In DVDs handed out by prosecutors to defense attorneys in the past few weeks, the cabbie wannabes are shown meeting in a townhouse where Swain gives them a talk, has them fingerprinted in "his" kitchen, and then photographed. The defendants were told that this is how you obtain a license.

At the end of the process, Swain asks each man: "Do you have something for me?" or "Do you have an envelope for me?"

These envelopes contained cash. The defendants we interviewed claimed they did not know what they were handing over to Swain; they say they had been given these envelopes—marked with a D.C. Taxicab Commission stamp on the front—by alleged bribery mastermind Yitbarek Syume.

On the videos, Swain jokes with the guys, makes small talk, and generally plays the perfect host. The men just look on in confusion. I wondered how much they actually understood. In some case, they see Swain opening up the envelopes and fanning out the cash. The men look freaked out by this.

In a video recorded a few days prior to these fingerprint sessions, Swain warns Syume and a co-conspirator to keep their dealings secret. He tells them: “Get everybody situated. And then we’ll have them come down here.…Probably about 10 at a time....We don’t need this to go no further than the three of us.”

What does that mean? What does this say about what the 30 defendants knew about the bribery conspiracy?

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Right now, Abdulaziz Kamus has a lot on his mind. First, there's the fact that he's a central figure in the Ted Loza bribery case (Kamus allegedly joined the Fed probe, wired up, and paid Jim Graham's Right Hand Man $1500 in bribes). Today, we learned that key players in the bribery scandal discussed killing Kamus after the Loza story broke. Several community leaders say that Kamus has not appeared in public since his law enforcement activities became public.

Now comes the claim that Kamus wasn't such a great community organizer. We had previously heralded the man as the major player within the Ethiopian community. Yesterday, I was cautioned that this just wasn't the case at all.

Daniel Belayneh, the executive director of the Ethiopia Community Services and Development Council, laughed when I mentioned Kamus as a leader.

"Mostly he was working with the Latino community," Belayneh said. "He's more with Latinos."

Belayneh cautioned reporters writing about Kamus: "He's not as active as you guys think in terms of working with the community. What does he organize?"

*photo by Darrow Montgomery.

One indictment concerns three individuals: Yitbarek Syume, Berhane Leghese, and Amanuel Ghirmazion. They have been charged with bribing and conspiring to bribe the chairperson of the taxicab commission—Leon Swain Jr., who then cooperated with authorities. If convicted, the three each face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. These three individuals are alleged to have:

knowingly and willfully conspired and agreed together and with each other, and with other persons both known and unknown to the grand jury, to commit the following offenses against the United States: that is to directly and indirectly, corruptly give, offer, and promise things of value to the Chairperson, with intent to influence official acts....[they] agreed to give approximately $220,000 in cash to the Chairperson in return for the Chairperson's agreement to issue numerous multi-vehicle taxicab company licenses.

According to the indictment, they agreed to pay the Chairperson approximately $10,000 per license for multi-vehicle taxicab companies.

The indictment states:

The principal role of Ghirmazion was to raise money for the scheme; the principal role of Leghese was to prepare documents associated with the corruptly obtained multi-vehicle taxicab company licenses; and the principal role of Syume was to arrange for and make a series of bribe payments to the Chairperson.

The indictment goes on to state:

It was further part of the conspiracy that attempts were made to obtain corruptly large numbers of licenses for multi-vehicle taxicab companies from the Chairperson.

It was further part of the conspiracy that the DEFENDANTS intended to sell some of the licenses for multi-vehicle taxicab companies that they had corruptly obtained to finance their scheme, and to hold the balance of the licenses in anticipation of the licenses becoming more valuable.

*The bribery began in September 2007 with Syume giving the Chairperson a list of seven cab companies which he requested "licensing without proper authorization." That same day—Sept. 5, 2007—Syume gave $14,000 in cash in exchange for the requested licences.

*On Sept. 6, according to the indictment, Syume gave two more envelopes of cash to the chairperson totaling about $8,000.

*On Sept. 25, Syume received the licenses from the chairperson.

Syume continued to give the chairperson thousands of dollars in cash through October. For example:

On or about October 17, 2007, Syume again put a folded newspaper containing approximately $3,000 in cash into the Chairperson's automobile as partial payment for multi-vehicle taxicab company licenses.

On Nov. 8, 2007, Syume and Leghese, the indictment states, discussed via phone selling the licenses at $150,000 a piece. Less than a week later, Syume "gave a shopping bag containing approximately $59,880 in cash."

The bribes continued into the spring of 2008. The indictment ends in July 2008. But not before producing this chilling entry into the court record:

On or about July 5, 2008, Syume and Leghese spoke by telephone, at which time they discussed their concerns about the Chairperson; Leghese stated: 'We have to be careful that [the Chairperson] will not play any games, do you understand?'

The second indictment contains a whopping 37 defendants. It appears that much of their allegedly illegal activities are of a more recent vintage—last month:

From between Sept. 3 to Sept. 28, 2009, the defendants allegedly conspired to "directly and indirectly, corruptly give, offer, and promise things of value to the Chairperson, with intent to influence official acts, that is the DEFENDANTS agreed to give cash in various amounts to the Chairperson in return for his agreement to issue taxicab operator licenses to the DEFENDANTS.

Let's just say, the indictment paints a picture of a very well organized crew. The taxicab industry has failed to influence the public and, say, Mayor Fenty on meters. But they had this bribery thing down:

On or about September 3, 3009, Yitbarek Syume and Suraphel Ayalew met the Chairperson, at which time they discussed the method by which they would obtain corruptly taxicab operator licenses, including the preparation of applications, the location for meetings, and the amount of the bribes to be paid to the Chairperson.

On Sept. 11, a huge number of the defendants met the chairperson "at which time they paid cash to him for taxicab operator licenses that they were attempting to obtain corruptly."

A week later, Syume handed over $51,000 in cash to the chairperson. That same day, Syume and others received licenses. They repeated this several more times.

The final bit of action listed in the indictment took place on Sept. 28, 2009:  "Yitbarek Syume met the Chairperson at which time he discussed the logistics for the receipt of taxicab operator licenses by himself and the other co-conspirators."

The defendants have been charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, aiding and abetting, and "Causing an Act to be Done." If convicted, each of these defendants face up to five years in prison and a five of up to $250,000.

"The allegations contained in these indictments are serious–describing alleged corrupt activities at the heart of our taxicab industry–and reflect our determination to root out corruption in our government," stated Acting U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips in a press release. "Working closely with the FBI, we will continue to investigate this matter fully."

Twenty-seven defendants have been arrested so far. Five search warrants have been executed as well.

"The suspects are cab drivers or others with financial ties to the industry, said the sources, who requested anonymity because the case is actively under investigation. The indictments remained sealed on Friday.

FBI agents and local police, the sources said, were going to try to round up as many of the suspects as possible on Friday."

The investigation started 18 months ago when people tried to bribe a member of the taxicab commission.

The Post goes on to write:

"The board member reported the bribe attempt to authorities, the sources said. Soon, the sources said, the taxi official was wearing a wire and working undercover for the FBI by taking bribes from people in the taxi industry. He played a key role leading up to Thursday's indictments, the source said.

More than $100,000 in bribes were collected as part of the investigation, the sources said."

So who was that good citizen on the board that refused taxi money?

Last night, Graham played hard to get with us over this story concerning his intensely personal entanglements with Loza. All of a sudden Graham has become allergic to the cameras. This has got to be a first for the Grahamstander.

Today, Graham made his next move: killing the controversial taxicab legislation that has become part of the Loza bribery scandal, the Washington Post reports. The paper writes:

Reached Wednesday morning, Graham said he planned to withdraw the legislation. "This bill was introduced to provoke a conversation about the ever-increasing number of taxicab operators in D.C.," he said. In its place, Graham said he planned to hold a public hearing this month to discuss the state of the District taxi industry.

Graham went on to tell the Post that his killing of the bill has nothing to do with the growing bribery investigation.

Does he think D.C. residents are going to believe that?

Graham tells the D.C. Wire:

"Withdrawing this bill has nothing to do with the investigation and I am going to prove this by going forward with the substance of this issue," Graham said. "I think there is a real issue, under my jurisdiction, under my oversight, with a real concentration (of cabs) and I just want people to know what the issue is."

Glad to see the Grahamstander is back in fine form.

Looking to get a jump on his side of the story, Graham described Loza, a nine-year aide, as someone "I have grown to trust and have confidence in."

In his remarks to the press, Graham noted that the 44-year-old Loza, a native of Ecuador and a permanent U.S. resident, recently informed him that he was the subject of an FBI investigation. Graham aggressively tossed aside the notion that he had any involvement with the activities of Loza and "Individual No. 1," the cash-wielding taxicab industry lobbyist in the indictment. To support his contention, Graham circulated copies of the search warrant that authorities used to raid Graham's council office today. The warrant does not seek records or files maintained by Graham himself and focuses on Loza's office.

Furthermore, Graham denied that Loza had ever lobbied him or exercised any influence whatsoever on taxi legislation. "Loza has never to my recollection spoken to me about any element of any taxicab bill I was considering. I have no reason to believe that there's any wrongdoing by any [other] member of my staff. I am very concerned about what I'm hearing and I'm going to get to the bottom of this," said Graham.

According to the indictment, Loza accepted cash from "Individual No. 1" because he said he needed it. When asked about Loza's financial situation, Graham declined comment.

File photo by Darrow Montgomery

Those are the words allegedly uttered by Ted Loza, chief of staff to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, after receiving a payoff from someone with an interest in taxi regulation, according to a federal indictment that was unsealed today. The indictment charges Loza with two counts of accepting a bribe by a public official.

Federal prosecutors are accusing Loza of accepting "cash, the use of vehicles, and trips" in exchange for pushing certain legislation affecting the taxicab industry. The person who allegedly offered the bribes to Loza is not identified in the indictment, but the document does specify what sort of favors were under discussion: After advocating for the enactment of a moratorium on the issuance of taxicab licenses, the unidentified lobbyist then worked with Loza to arrange for the council to pass an exception to the moratorium.

The charging documents feature this Gotcha! moment, in which Loza is discussing the license-exception legislation with "Individual No. 1." In this conversation, Loza is giving the "individual" copies of legislation that the "individual" had sought:

LOZA: I got you an extra copy, and I just sent you an electronic copy of this as well

Individual No. 1: Beautiful, wow, beautiful. Really. I want to thank you very much.

LOZA: Yes, sir.

Individual No. 1: Thank you very much for, you know, arranging meetings with [Public Official Number 1].

LOZA: Yeah.

Individual No. 1: It means a lot for me, and , uh, you know the community. Uh, it's wonderful, you know, and we have a piece of—

LOZA: We're on our way!

Individual No. 1: OK. We have a piece of, um—the hybrid as well right here on this legislation?

LOZA: Yeah. That's the exception.

Individual No. 1: The exception. OK. Yeah, I really, I mean—

LOZA: But, but, read it, and, uh, then let me know if there's something—

Individual No. 1: I will, definitely I will—

LOZA: —that, that raises your eyebrow—

Individual No. 1: Oh, sure.

LOZA: —or concerns you.

Individual No. 1: Definitely, and I want to thank you very much for this, and, you know—

LOZA: Thank you very much.

Individual No. 1: Very helpful for us, you know. Uh, and [Individual Number 2] wanted to really thank you as well for this.

LOZA: He does? What, didn't he thank me or didn't you guys thank me already?

Individual No. 1: Here—here. This is for you. And, uh, thank you very much for him. [Individual Number 1 handed $500 in cash to Loza.]

LOZA: You know I need it. That's why I take it, you know.

The indictment recounts another conversation after which Loza allegedly accepts a $1,000 "Father's Day gift" for his work on behalf of Individual No. 1.

Reporting by Jason Cherkis and Mike DeBonis

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Ted Loza, longtime right-hand man to Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, has been arrested to bribery, according to the Washington Post.

Loose Lips correspondent Mike DeBonis is on the scene at Graham's office at the John A. Wilson Building. He reports that agents are searching the office and are searching computer records at an administrative office of the D.C. Council. Graham has taken a dozen staffers into a private meeting.

Tom Sherwood, WRC-TV reporter, says that the arrest stems from Loza's involvement in overseeing taxicab legislation. Loza serves as Graham's chief of staff.

The arrest happened as Graham was chairing a meeting of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA).

We will keep updating this story as more developments occur.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery