There are three apparent paths the U.S. Attorney’s office could take when it comes to asking the grand jury to approve charges against those involved in the accusations against the Gray for Mayor campaign, former D.C. U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova said. Simply bringing witnesses in front of a grand jury creates one route.
“If someone comes in front of a grand jury and doesn’t tell the truth, they can be indicted for false statements, perjury or obstruction of justice,” diGenova said. “Witnesses must either testify truthfully or plead the Fifth [Amendment].”
Another option would be to charge someone with willful violation of the District’s campaign finance laws, diGenova said.
Sulaimon Brown says members of the Gray for Mayor campaign gave him cash and money orders so he could afford to stay on the campaign trail and continue his verbal attacks on then-Mayor Adrian Fenty. It’s clear from Brown’s campaign finance records that the cash wasn’t reported. Brown has said he didn’t consider the payments to be donations. It could also be a problem for the Gray for Mayor campaign that it didn’t report any payments to Brown.
The money orders could also give prosecutors the chance to indict someone, diGenova said.
Brown recently presented copies of money orders to the D.C. Council. The people whose signatures are alleged to be on the orders say they didn’t sign them. If that’s the case, the person who did could be charged with wire or mail fraud, diGenova said.
In the end, though, the grand jury might conclude that no law was violated.
“Of course, the paydirt for prosecutors would be to get the mayor,” an attorney associated with the case said. “But there’s a strong argument that even if there were cash payments made, they were not illegal.”
Freeman Klopott
