D.C. Council member Trayon White was charged Monday with accepting more than $150,000 in bribes in federal court following his arrest in Southeast the day before.

An FBI agent’s affidavit says Mr. White, 40, agreed in June to accept roughly $156,000 in kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for pressuring government employees to extend two companies’ contracts for violence intervention services. The contracts were worth more than $5 million.

He also accepted a $20,000 bribe payment to help resolve a contract dispute for one of the companies by pressuring high-level city officials, the affidavit says.

An FBI informant who agreed to plead guilty to fraud and bribery charges reported giving Mr. White gifts including travel to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas along with paying him bribes, the FBI said.

Federal authorities arrested Mr. White, Ward 8 Democrat, in the Navy Yard neighborhood Sunday afternoon.

Mr. White, who first took his seat on the council in 2017, won a competitive Democratic primary in June, all but assuring he would be reelected by Southeast D.C.’s overwhelmingly Democratic populace this fall.

In 2018, Mr. White made controversial comments about European Jewish financiers controlling both the weather and the federal government. He has since apologized but has also been a supporter of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam.

He could face up to 15 years behind bars.

The criminal complaint detailed four instances where Mr. White accepted bribe payments ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 while meeting with an FBI informant between the end of June and early August.

Mr. White is the D.C. Council’s chairman for the Committee on Recreation, Libraries and Youth Affairs. 

He is accused of directing contracts to the Office of Neighborhood and Safety Engagement and the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services — the latter agency he directly oversees on his council committee.

• This story is based in part on wire service reports.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.