Trial of Philly councilmember and his wife resumes with more questions for FBI agent

Defense lawyers in the federal bribery trial of Kenyatta Johnson and Dawn Chavous had their first opportunity Wednesday to grill the FBI agent whose probe resulted in the indictment of the Philadelphia city councilmember and his wife.

And the testimony quickly grew testy.

They focused their fire on an estimate Special Agent Richard Haag had offered from the witness stand a day before: That Chavous — a charter schools advocate and politically connected consultant — had done less than 40 hours of work over 16 months for a South Philadelphia affordable housing and charter schools nonprofit that paid her $67,000 as part of what prosecutors say was sham consulting contract intended as a payoff for her husband.

“But that’s just your opinion,” Chavous’ lawyer Barry Gross challenged the agent at one point. “You’ve never worked as a consultant? And you’ve never worked in the charter school area? And your degree is not in organizational dynamics from Penn? And you don’t have a certificate in charter schools from Harvard?”

Haag, who has worked for the FBI for nearly 17 years, acknowledged all of those things were true. But when asked whether he still felt qualified to assess how much time Chavous would have spent on any of the tasks in the itemized invoices she periodically sent to Universal Companies, the nonprofit at the heart of the case, he didn’t hesitate in responding.

» READ MORE: Defense challenges FBI claim that Kenyatta Johnson’s wife was paid $67K for less than 40 hours of work

— Jeremy Roebuck and Oona Goodin-Smith

Testimony wrapped Wednesday afternoon as Dawn Chavous’ attorney, Barry Gross, continued to probe FBI Special Case Agent Richard Haag on his conclusion that Chavous did minimal work for a total of $67,000 during her 16 months with Universal Companies.

”There was not a lot of work product,” Haag maintained Wednesday afternoon, as Gross showed jurors Chavous’ emails to company executives, calendar notices for meetings she attended with potential donors and politicians, and attempted to match them to tasks she had billed the nonprofit for.

The emails showed Chavous and her employee made preliminary plans for a 20th anniversary party for Universal Companies, to be held at the nonprofit’s Audenried High School in South Philadelphia and food prepared by the charter school’s culinary students.

The party never occurred, but the star-studded list of potential MC’s for the event included Philadelphia radio personality Patty Jackson, actor Will Smith, and comedians Steve Harvey and Bill Cosby. (Gross noted to jurors the event was planned in 2013, years before scores of women accused Cosby of sexual assault and predatory behavior.)

”You don’t know yourself how much time Ms. Chavous spent thinking about this, planning this, putting this together?” Gross pressed Haag, who on Tuesday said he estimated the consultant did no more than 40 hours of work total for Universal over a 16-month span.

“No,” Haag replied.

Gross also pointed to meeting invites and follow-up emails which suggested Chavous connected Universal’s then-CEO, Rahim Islam, with ShopRite CEO Jeff Brown to connect over a potential partnership with the grocery store and Audenried’s culinary school. Emails showed she also orchestrated meetings with Universal and her former employer, state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, compiled research on local elected officials’ positions on charter schools, and provided six months of recommendations for Universal’s community outreach.

He also highlighted time stamps when Chavous — who Gross previously called a “workaholic” — sent her emails to Universal executives, sometimes in the middle of the night.

At times, U.S. District Judge Gerald A. McHugh denied Gross’ requests to submit some of Chavous’ emails as evidence of her work product — such as forwarding the auditor general’s lengthy report on charter schools to Islam, since she herself did not write the report.

”She forwarded a 22-page document, yes,” Haag said dryly.

Continued cross-examination of the FBI special agent is expected to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

— Oona Goodin-Smith

Testimony grew testy Wednesday afternoon as Chavous’ lawyer, Barry Gross, challenged FBI Special Agent Richard Haag’s estimate that his client did less than 40 hours of work over 16 months for the $67,000 she was paid by Universal Companies, the South Philadelphia nonprofit accused of bribing her husband.

The agent offered that calculation from the witness stand Tuesday, after reviewing invoices she had submitted as part of what prosecutors have described as a sham consulting contract with the organization — meant to disguise what they say was really a payoff intended for Johnson.

But over the better part of an hour Wednesday, Gross quizzed Haag on whether he’d included email after email Chavous had received between 2013 and 2014 related to Universal business.

Each time, Haag dryly responded with a deadpan “Yes.”

Some of those messages, the agent noted, had been forwarded to multiple recipients, including Chavous, and there was no indication, that she did anything in response.

Gross noted that Chavous had received roughly 30 text messages from Universal executives in the span of a single month and pressed Haag on whether he’d included those in his calculations, too.

“Maybe it’s because I’m old that this bothers me,” Gross began. “But when someone texts you, it interrupts what you’re doing, and you have to stop your work, look at it and take time to decide what to do, correct?”

Haag responded: “I’d agree that’s because you’re old.” Gross grew so impatient with the agent’s steadfast defense of his 40-hour estimate and his attempts to challenge the premise of defense questions that the lawyer shot back.

“Can I ask you a question?” Gross asked. “FBI stands for Federal Bureau of Investigation. It’s not Federal Bureau of Prosecution, is it?”

But with each new query, Gross sought to plant doubt in jurors’ minds that Haag had been completely thorough in assessing his client’s contributions to Universal.

“That’s your opinion,” Gross said of Haag’s estimate. “You’ve never worked as a consultant? And you’ve never worked in the charter school area? And your degree is not in organizational dynamics from Penn? And you don’t have a certificate in charter schools from Harvard?”

Haag acknowledged all of those things were true.

“And you can determine … that this was very little work — less than 40 hours over 15 months?” Gross continued. “You still feel qualified to give your opinion on the number of hours worked.”

Haag responded without hesitation: “Yes.”

— Jeremy Roebuck

Dawn Chavous billed Universal Companies and completed her contract like any other monthly consulting job she performed, her attorney attempted to show jurors Wednesday — pushing back on the government’s allegations that his client’s paychecks from the nonprofit with sparsely-populated invoices were actually a concealed bribe to her husband, Philadelphia Councilmember Kenyatta Jonson.

After the leading FBI case agent in the trial spent the better part of two days testifying on Chavous’ alleged “low-show” job with Universal, where he said Chavous at-most worked 40 hours for the company over 16 months for a total of $67,000, lawyer Barry L. Gross asked the agent to take another look at the fine print.

The contract specified that Chavous, a charter schools advocate and politically connected consultant, would work no more than 20 hours for a flat fee of $3,500 each month, Gross stressed, noting that the hours mentioned were a “ceiling, not a floor.”

In Chavous’ second, revised contract with Universal, which increased her monthly rate of $4,500 — a spike that prosecutors have noted occurred the day after Chavous and Johnson met with Universal executives to discuss the redevelopment of the Royal Theater at a political fundraiser — Gross said his client was simply billing for added responsibilities in her agreement.

Those tasks included supporting Universal’s efforts to secure new charter schools for the nonprofit, and managing “the relationship and ongoing communication” with the Philadelphia School District — but did not require Chavous to achieve any particular end result.

“That says ‘efforts,’” Gross said, who has labeled his client a “workaholic” and said she tirelessly worked for Universal. “She’s a consultant, not a school district official, so nowhere does she guarantee that she will open new schools.”

Similarly, Gross argued, Chavous was working within the bounds of her contract’s dictum to “improve the public narrative” surrounding Universal Companies when she facilitated meetings for the company with local legislators.

“It’s vague,” testified the case agent, Richard Haag of the contract language.

And while prosecutors Tuesday showed jurors invoices for Chavous’ hourly consulting contracts with other employers, which had a much more detailed account of her time, Gross asked the jury to compare the document instead to another similar, monthly agreement with another Philadelphia charter school CEO from 2016.

Prosecutors Tuesday also showed jurors Chavous’ business expense and reimbursement forms submitted to other consulting gigs — documentation they said was missing from her time at Universal. At the same time, they attempted to show Chavous and her husband were in dire financial straits, struggling with mounting credit card payments and double mortgages.

But Gross cast aspersions on this, too. He showed the jury Chavous’ banking statements, noting that his client kept at least around $10,000 in her multiple accounts during the period in the indictment. And her credit cards, the FBI agent testified, were used for personal as well as “thousands of dollars” of business expenses — from Amtrak travel to a software purchase to a number of entries regarding a fish fry for her former employer, state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams.

“You can only answer questions you’re asked, of course?” Gross asked Haag of prosecutors’ portrayal.

“Yes,” the agent replied.

Chavous’ contract and work for Universal is key to government’s bribery allegations that her “low-show job” with the nonprofit was merely a front for the company to funnel money to Johnson, who was then influenced to push zoning legislation in favor of Universal’s real estate holdings.

The government has contended that “no one seemed to know what she was doing for Universal” and that “the only real value” she provided the company was her relationship to Johnson. By explaining Chavous’ work and documentation of that work for Universal, her attorney is attempting to dispel those accusations.

— Oona Goodin-Smith

Kenyatta Johnson’s lawyer accused the lead FBI investigator in his case of providing a distorted view of the councilmember’s finances and those of his wife during the period in which they’ve been accused of accepting nearly $67,000 in bribes.

Cross-examining Agent Richard Haag, attorney Patrick Egan pushed back against the picture that prosecutors painted in earlier testimony of a couple drowning under more than $40,000 in credit card debt and the weight of two mortgages.

Those financial pressures, government lawyers have said, made Johnson and spouse, Dawn Chavous, susceptible to accepting a payoff from two executives at a South Philadelphia nonprofit.

But in his questioning, Egan highlighted financial documents that showed that Johnson and Chavous almost always paid their credit card and mortgage payments on time, despite their sizable debts.

In some cases, Egan noted, Chavous was even paying hundreds of dollars more a month on her mortgage than she was required to.

While prosecutors showed Chavous incurred frequent overdraft fees on one of her accounts, Egan clarified that they were overdraft protection fees, meaning that the bank charged her to move money from one accounts to another to cover a debt, not that she didn’t have the money at all.

Johnson, meanwhile, maintained separate accounts with balances that never fell below a total of $21,000 during the entire period relevant to the indictment, according to bank statements Egan introduced.

“So during this entire period of time where we heard about this alleged financial turmoil, Councilman Johnson had a significant amount of money in his personal business accounts and he was current on all of his bills,” the lawyer noted.

Haag responded: “Correct.”

Prosecutors have portrayed Johnson and Chavous as deep in debt and living beyond their means and suggested this gave them a motive to try to profit from his elected office.

If the jury is convinced by Egan’s counternarrative that the couple was largely financially stable, it could call into question their motivation for seeking an alleged bribe.

— Jeremy Roebuck

Good morning from the eighth day of City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson’s federal bribery trial.

When we left off yesterday, defense lawyers for Johnson and his wife, Dawn Chavous, had just launched into their cross-examination of the FBI’s lead investigator on the case, Richard Haag, after three days of testimony from him under government questioning.

Johnson’s lawyer, Patrick Egan, immediately challenged Haag’s calculation that Chavous did no more than 40 hours of work in the 16 months she was paid nearly $67,000 under contract with Universal Companies, a nonprofit whose executives prosecutors have accused of bribing the councilmember.

Chavous and her lawyer, Barry Gross, have repeatedly pushed back at the government characterization of her contract with Universal as a phony passthrough for Johnson’s payoff.

Haag’s cross-examination is expected to last at least through the lunch break. It could be a contentious morning.

— Jeremy Roebuck

The federal bribery trial of Philadelphia City Councilperson Kenyatta Johnson and his wife, Dawn Chavous, is expected to resume Wednesday morning at the James A. Byrne courthouse in Center City.

The defense is expected to continue their cross-examination of Richard Haag, the lead FBI agent on the case.

» READ MORE: Kenyatta Johnson trial: Day-by-day updates for federal bribery case

— Rob Tornoe

With the FBI’s lead case agent on the witness stand for a third day in Philadelphia City Councilmember Kenyatta Johnson’s federal bribery trial, prosecutors homed in on the case’s central question:

Just how much work did his wife, Dawn Chavous, do for the nearly $67,000 she was paid between 2013 and 2014 as a consultant for Universal Companies, a South Philadelphia nonprofit seeking his assistance with various real estate problems?

Richard Haag, the case agent on the witness stand, never wavered when asked repeatedly in court.

His answer? “Very little” — a conclusion that has prompted prosecutors to label the payments as a bribe meant to influence her husband.

Rahim Islam — one of two nonprofit executives charged alongside Johnson and Chavous — said he hired her in April 2013 to do fund-raising. But he added in a 2017 FBI interview, she didn’t raise any funds.

Shahied Dawan — the other executive charged — initially told agents he had no recollection of Chavous doing any work for Universal. But later, testifying before a grand jury, he described her role as general “PR work.”

And prosecutors have said several Universal board members had no idea that Chavous had a contract with their organization, one focused on affordable housing development and operating charter schools.

» READ MORE: At trial, FBI agent estimates Kenyatta Johnson’s wife was paid $67,000 for 40 hours of work

— Jeremy Roebuck and Oona Goodin-Smith

Kenyatta Johnson, 48, a three-term incumbent on Philadelphia City Council, represents parts of Center City, Southwest, and his native South Philadelphia. Before he was elected to Council in 2012, he served for three years as state representative.

Dawn Chavous, 42, is the founder and president of her own consulting firm, a charter school lobbyist, political consultant, and founder of the Sky Community Partners nonprofit, which helps to distribute state scholarships to public and private schools outside students’ home districts.

She has longstanding ties to State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, for whom she worked for nearly a decade, rising in his office from aide to chief of staff. Eventually, she ran his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. It was while working in Williams’ office that she met Johnson, who was serving as an aide to the senator at the time. They married in 2012.

Prosecutors say she did “little, if any, discernible work” — an estimated 30-40 hours total over a 16-month span — for the money she received consulting with Universal.

» READ MORE: Kenyatta Johnson and Dawn Chavous bribery trial: What you need to know

— Oona Goodin-Smith and Jeremy Roebuck

Prosecutors say Kenyatta Johnson used his position in 2013 and 2014 to protect real estate holdings of Universal Companies, a South Philadelphia community development and charter schools nonprofit founded by legendary music producer Kenny Gamble. In exchange, they say, Johnson took bribes of more than $66,750 in the form of a consulting job for his wife, Dawn Chavous.

The couple each face two counts of honest services fraud, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Abdur Rahim Islam and Shahied Dawan, two Universal Companies executives accused of bribing Johnson and Chavous, face the majority of charges, including counts of racketeering conspiracy, tax evasion, and wire fraud.

Johnson and Chavous have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their attorneys argue that there is no evidence that Chavous’ contract with Universal had anything to do with Johnson’s votes on matters involving Universal’s landholdings.

Should he be convicted, Kenyatta Johnson, like Bobby Henon, would be forced to give up his seat on the Philadelphia City Council, making him the second member of Council to do so this year — a churn not seen since the Abscam scandal of the 1980s, which saw three Council members booted due to federal bribery convictions.

Johnson and Dawn Chavous would also be facing up to 20 years in prison on each of the two counts of honest services fraud with which he is charged.

Attorneys expect the first portion of the trial involving Johnson, Chavous, Islam and Dawan to last around three weeks, and the second section — focused only on Islam and Dawan — to last a few additional days.

— Oona Goodin-Smith and Jeremy Roebuck