{"id":1408,"date":"2023-04-19T18:46:44","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T18:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/?p=1408"},"modified":"2023-04-19T18:46:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T18:46:44","slug":"jury-convicts-dallas-developer-for-bribing-corrupt-city-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/jury-convicts-dallas-developer-for-bribing-corrupt-city-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"Jury Convicts Dallas Developer for Bribing Corrupt City Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Local businessman found guilty of buying political favors from Democrat council members in city\u2019s latest public corruption scandal involving low-income housing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another participant in a scheme involving bribes to Democrats on Dallas City Council has been found guilty in federal court of buying political favors from corrupt city officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A jury convicted Dallas real estate developer Ruel Hamilton on two counts of bribery and one count of conspiracy for paying thousands of dollars to then-council members Dwaine Caraway and Carolyn Davis in return for their help securing city funding for his low-income housing projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Caraway and Davis admitted to taking bribes from Hamilton, who ran AmeriSouth Realty, a real estate investment company specializing in redeveloping older multifamily properties, primarily run-down apartment complexes, as low-income housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPublic corruption is one of the FBI\u2019s top criminal priorities,\u201d FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Matthew J. DeSarno said in\u00a0a statement following Hamilton\u2019s conviction. \u201cIt\u00a0erodes the public\u2019s trust and wastes valuable resources intended for taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caraway\u2014on release from prison, where he\u2019s serving time for a separate bribery scheme\u2014testified in court against Hamilton, admitting he took $7,000 from the developer in exchange for helping Hamilton\u2019s company get high-dollar housing deals from the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disgraced Democrat, who represented District 4 in South Dallas and was serving as mayor pro tem, resigned in 2018 after\u00a0pleading guilty to taking $450,000 in bribes and kickbacks\u00a0in a scandal involving the now-defunct school bus agency Dallas County Schools. The scandal\u00a0brought down multiple corrupt city and county officials and their co-conspirators. Caraway was sentenced to 56 months in prison for his part in that scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Caraway\u2019s cash from Hamilton also bought his support for putting a paid sick leave initiative on the 2019 ballot\u2014a scheme to boost Democrat voter turnout in the city elections. Hamilton was\u00a0a major donor to local and state Democrat candidates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis\u00a0pleaded guilty in 2019 to taking more than $40,000 in bribes from Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis, the Democrat who represented South Dallas\u2019 District 7 from 2007-2015, admitted she actively sought the bribes. In exchange, she used her influence as chair of the council\u2019s housing committee to advocate for Hamilton\u2019s Royal Crest housing project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Davis\u2019 active support, Hamilton received $168,000 in city funding and a $2.5 million loan from the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation. Davis also pushed the city to favor Royal Crest over a competing project to receive low-income housing tax credits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and agreed to a three-year prison sentence but was killed in a car crash before her final sentencing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scandals surrounding low-income housing funds are a long-running problem in Dallas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twelve years ago, in what became known as the \u201cDallas City Hall Corruption Case,\u201d federal authorities prosecuted more than a dozen defendants, including then-Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and State Rep. Terri Hodge (D\u2013Dallas), in an extortion and money laundering scheme involving low-income housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a Democrat who served as a state representative from 2010-2019, was first elected to the Texas Legislature to replace Hodge in the wake of that scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While running for mayor, Johnson said the affordable housing tax credit program \u201chas become the mother\u2019s milk of political corruption in Dallas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people of Dallas deserve true public servants, not those bought and paid for by the city\u2019s elite,\u201d said Acting U.S. Attorney Prerak Shah. \u201cThe U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office will not allow a kickback culture to fester at City Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hamilton, who maintains he\u2019s innocent, faces up to 25 years in prison. His sentencing is set for November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local businessman found guilty of buying political favors from Democrat council members in city\u2019s latest public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1408"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1408\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.whatistandfor.co\/fightingcorruptionandworkriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}