The ground beneath D.C.’s alleged tax scam ringleader Harriette Walters became more unstable Thursday when her baby brother agreed to testify against her in the District’s largest ever public corruption scandal.
Speaking in a rich baritone, Richard J. Walters admitted in federal court in Greenbelt that he helped his sister kite phony tax refund checks through his plumbing company. Walters, 49, will be sentenced in the late summer or early fall.
The bag man for the $50 million scheme has also agreed to cooperate with federal authorities. But as a relative of Harriette’s, Richard Walters can potentially give the feds an inside track on how the scam developed over the course of a decade, officials said.
He may also help give the feds new names in the scandal. Court papers reviewed by The Examiner show that federal authorities are also seeking information on “unknown” co-conspirators in their cooperation deal.
Richard Walters is the fourth person this month to plead guilty in the ongoing corruption case. Sitting in a tight-fitting gray pinstripe suit Thursday, he told U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams that he helped Harriette run phony checks through his plumbing company’s bank accounts since at least 2001.
He then blurted: “I want to make a simple statement, apologizing to the people of the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland.”
Hearing this, Walters’ lawyer quickly put a hand on his client’s broad back and whispered to him. Williams told Walters to save such comments for his sentencing.
Under Thursday’s plea deal, Walters will also hand back nearly $5 million in stolen funds and loot. Federal sources have said privately that they fear most of the money is gone forever. But Baltimore’s U.S. attorney, Rod Rosenstein, told The Examiner that Walters’ gesture is at least a step in the right direction.
“We’re doing everything we can to recover the money for D.C.’s taxpayers,” he said.
