A federal grand jury has sent subpoenas to at least two members the of D.C. Council — and more are expected in the coming days — in connection with an ongoing probe of campaign finances in the District, The Washington Examiner confirmed on Tuesday.
Several D.C. Council sources who spoke to The Examiner on condition of anonymity declined to specify which legislators had so far received orders from the grand jury.
A copy of one subpoena obtained by The Examiner indicated investigators are focused on the activities of Jeffrey Thompson, a prolific donor to D.C. political campaigns who also owns the company that holds the city’s largest single contract.
The subpoena asked the recipient to provide documents — including emails, telephone records and notes — related to Thompson, his companies and certain business partners. Those companies and associates have combined to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to District political campaigns through the years, and the subpoena requests information on activities as far back as January 2003.
One official said prosecutors requested documents by Friday.
The news has other members of the D.C. Council bracing for subpoenas. At-large Councilman Michael Brown said he not received one “yet.”
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen declined to comment about the subpoenas, first reported by WRC-TV.
The subpoenas came less than two weeks after federal agents raided Thompson’s home and offices, and Mayor Vincent Gray, whose 2010 campaign has been the subject of a federal investigation for months, has acknowledged that the raids “may well be” tied to that probe. On Tuesday, however, a mayoral spokesman said Gray had not received a subpoena.
Council Chairman Kwame Brown’s 2008 campaign is also under federal investigation, and some sources said they expect the Thompson subpoenas are tied to those probes.
Though the subpoenas specifically mentioned Thompson and others connected to him, they also suggest the existence of a broader probe into campaign financing.
Along with the Thompson documents, prosecutors also requested records “relating to fundraising, contributions, donations, gifts or payments … received from or on behalf of any person or entities that made the maximum legal contribution.”
Depending on who received the subpoenas, that means prosecutors could be seeking documents involving people who donated $500.
