Feds accuse local developer of bribing former city official

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Dan Feldstein has quite an eye-opening story in this morning’s Chronicle:

The developer of the Houston Emergency Center gave cash in a bag to a top city official and promised her boyfriend about $250,000 if he was awarded another city deal, federal prosecutors allege.

Documents in Cleveland and Houston courts describe evidence that prosecutors had planned to use against Monique McGilbra, former head of Houston’s Building Services Department, who instead pleaded guilty this month to conspiracy charges in both places.

[snip]

It was Keystone Group, then headed by Andrew Schatte, a politically connected Houston dealmaker. Schatte has not been charged with any crimes and denies many of the statements and all of the implications of the documents.

[snip]

U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby of Houston said after McGilbra pleaded guilty this week that related investigations are continuing. McGilbra has agreed to cooperate with authorities to get a reduced sentence.

Schatte has several close friends among state and local elected leaders and has been active setting up leases and investments for the city, Harris County and several local pension boards. The Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund has invested more than $57 million in his recent deals.

Competitors sometimes have complained about his success. But Schatte says he’s simply more in tune to local government needs and works hard on his specialty.

[snip]

Prosecutors allege some of Hardeman’s [McGilbra’s boyfriend] money was supposed to be funneled to McGilbra. They say Keystone also gave her a $1,000 Neiman Marcus gift certificate for her birthday, seven tickets to Texans games, use of a condominium in northern California and $1,000 cash in a bag also containing champagne.

Dang! This will be very interesting to watch unfold, and what great work by Dan Feldstein digging up this story.

RELATED: McGilbra supervised construction of 911 call center (blogHOUSTON)

KEVIN WHITED ADDS: It’s also worth checking out the archived Chronicle stories on the sidebar of Feldstein’s story today. Those stories were also written by Feldstein, and help tie together some pieces. Feldstein deserves credit for digging deeper into this story.


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Anne Linehan is a co-founder of blogHOUSTON.