Authorities said Kevin Jones, 48, of Laurel, Md., was a contract oversight specialist at HUD starting in 1999, with access to bid offers and particular information about businesses. Officials said Thomas’s company wasn’t named in court documents because the company itself is not charged in the bribery scheme. The information Jones gave to Thomas provided him and his company with “an unfair competitive advantage,” in getting two HUD contracts that were worth more than $4.5 million. Another former HUD employee, LaFonda Lewis, also pleaded guilty in January in a similar scheme of giving Thomas information in exchange for gifts. She pleaded guilty last spring and was sentenced in July to 56 months in prison for accepting the bribes from Thomas.

Source: Washington Post March 15, 2019 15:45 UTC