Very serious legal trouble in the span of two years. How did you go about covering Jeffrey Thompson . Well, that began with i the mayor. Er i used to cover the mayors office. Mayoral ered the 2010 campaign. Assigned to ually cover the daytoday, the campaign and that was the at the time. And he was the main opponent of vincent gray who was chairman at the time. So, you know, covered the mall campaign. I was most interested in watching kind of downfalls ecause, you know, everyone saw it coming. And that was my job. Shortly after the after won, iok off, because he eard from Sulaiman Brown would run for mayor. It ended up he had a job in the odd. Istration which was and then the next thing you knew, he was fired and then he do you ing me and said want to talk . And i was like, sure. We knew, he thing described some serious orruption about being paid in the campaign to disparage on the campaign trail. Another. G led to a big investigation, a federal investigation. And, you know, the federal learned tors actually that there was something much on which they called the Shadow Campaign. Kind of a parallel campaign to the gray that was done in secret. Reported. T it was 650,000, nothing to sneeze at. Allegedly, Jeffrey Thompson was the sole funder of that 650,000. You have to keep using the word allegedly . That . Is he has not been indicted or charged. Have l people around him been charged. Ut this is a very long investigation. His attorney is brendan sullivan, a very good attorney. Being able to et delays and he actually abilitythe prosecutors to look at some evidence that retrieved from some raids on Jeffrey Thompsons a es and offices, more than year ago. Just to remind some of the olks listening that brendan sullivan, he represented ollie in h before the committee congress. He said, what am i . A potted plant . He represented ted stevens and convicted. S was the current attorney general threw that out. Es a 1,000 lawyer in this town. He is, Jeffrey Thompson can afford it. I think were in for the long haul with this. Brendan sullivan is known for if you want to charge my client, trial. Go to you say in the article that he current mayor, vincent grays attorney is bob bennett. Yet another bigtime attorney. Interesting thing about ennett is that vincent grays daughter is a very good attorney and shes like a one could of bennett. Rotege so theres a relationship there hes had with vincent gray issue, y ran into this bennett. Ned mr. Lets catch everybody up. This is a d. C. Thing. But before we i want to show of the former mayor and ask you about him. The american taxpayer have to do with the District Of Columbia . Away from and you say why are they talking about the District Of Columbia . Nations capital. Be very hould also interested because despite the fact that you see the city and it as separate from he federal and the capitol is , this is a city that still governed by congress. The you know all of american taxpayers have a say in that. That the something District Of Columbia have struggled with through the years. Oner vincent gray made that of his main platforms in his administration to finally get city some representation on the hill. But are they balancing their budget . The city is balancing its budget. Vincent gray used to be the city council . E how many members on the city council . 13. Who elects them . Voters. Citys how many people live in this district now . Up. Ts going yes, it continues to go up. Lets show Adrian Phinney here you n interview in 2006 so can put him in context of this story. Philosophy of politics, you have to understand what youre charging. Ceo of ge is to be the the District Of Columbia, to be the political leader and make ure my employees are great public servants. When corruption happens, it people lose se sight of what theyre in it for. Eople are following the money, sometimes its people following a type of power. Not what im going to talk about. Im going to stay focussed . Of as he ever been accused being corrupt . Y, in the 2010 campaign, you vincent gray, then the Council Chairman, he took full advantage of some story written, actually, administration. Ossibly favoring some friends of adrian finty. Lived here, you saw Television Ads that presented it that way. Incent greys slogan is character, leadership. That character and integrity, direct shots of the fintey administration at that corrupt. Ed of being he was never indict . He was never indicted or any investigations other than d. C. Council investigation hich ironically was led by folks who ended up going to jail for other things, like the other Council Members you members. Thomas jr. Own, Harry Michael brown. Lets show vince grey who beat Adrian Finney in what year . 2010. Beat him . Ly did he oh, it was handy. Points. Everal the polls showed that fintey was going to lose. He was still going to fight at end. I think adrian fintey was he took years old when over as mayor, Something Like that. He was the youngest mayor in history. And so vincent gray really you know,kind of a he was the exact opposite. He was friendlier. Older. Much and you know folks got behind him. Lets watch vincent grey and you have to listen to the reporter asking him questions. Es already mayor when this is recorded. This is not the campaign that run, tom. Ed to people, i any, many got into this for the right reasons. I probably could have stayed on Council Chair or done nothing further. I got out there to be involve in this because i love the District Of Columbia. Im a native washitonian. m a product of the schools of the city. Im a product in almost every way of the District Of Columbia. Redundant, but i got in this for the right reasons. If you were someone not sort of looking at this from outside, what would think . I mean, would you think your administration is corrupt . Theory . Your its unfair to say our administration. I have distinguished between the the administration. And, sam, if theres something about our administration that finger on, put your i would invite you to do that. But its an unfair characterization. Specifically licall icalliiy talking about this administration . Campaign versus governing. The mayor. Absolutely. Mayor, isoking at this the mayor corrupt . There are a lot of people who probably will have that question. I am. Who i get up in the morning every mirror and in the see somebody i respect, tom. Corrupt, this has been going years. A couple of where are we in whatever investigation youve been cover ing . Five ht now, weve seen people indicted already. Campaign. To the gray pleaded guilty and admitted to payments to Sulaiman Brown, the gentleman i mentioned earlier. Who ran against gray and criticized him a lot but was being paid supposedly or was he people . Ray he was being paid. And theres proof to that and t has all been so hes a phony candidate . Well, you wouldnt you couldnt call him a phony candidate. He got into the race and then it was presented to him. I should get h, paid for beating up on fenty. Thats what happened. Weve seen three other the one ead guilty to person pleaded guilty to her role in the Shadow Campaign. And the other two people had affiliations with one of companies. And they admitted that they had donors. Raw you know, we havent really gotten into that part. Hat the federal investigators learned and this probe, is idea that now, this Jeffrey Thompson allegedly was, he had this entire network of contributors that he campaigns. Ive to but, you know, allegedly, it was really just his money. Were not talking about, you know, 2,000. Were talking about thousands and thousands of dollars, and were not just talking about the great were talking about like, you know, federal elections. Ere talking about elections outside of the city. Know, a long ou reach. 322 ain, you mentioned million or whatever it was earlier. Jeffrey thompson has what kind of a business. He had two businesses one, he had an Accounting Firm. Then the other business was a managed care firm where, you know, residents who cant afford or cant cant afford or qualify for medicaid or medicare use this, you know, the city program to get health care. And he managed the care for those residents. Taking about 100,000 customers. 100,000 customers. Theres only 600,000 in the district. This care, hem need they dont qualify for medicare or medicaid. How much money did jeffrey get from the District Of Columbia in all of the friends that he helped fund for his company . Contracts chartered alone was 322 million. One time . A year. Per year. A year . Yes. By the end, it was up to 322 million. And were talking about a that he bought in 2000 million. And at that time, the company made about 26 million a year. So, you know, this is a person who, you know, really built the up. Any you know, some may believe that it was through corrupt means, but, you know, other folks say he was very savvy. He was very smart. He built this company up. One of the things i found in reporting my story is that this basically just the circle of know. You he would get the money from the city and then he would give to is charities and to his family and to his friends and then, you know, somehow that money would back around to the candidates who would become Council Members and they would this contract. So, yeah, very interesting. In your article, theres a lot of photography. Of jeffrey cture thompson. It says like mother and son. This is a picture of Dorothy Height. We had her here as a guest one time. Who was she . Now. W shes deceased she was a civil rights and a womens rights icon. If you ask anyone, you know, you that Dorothy Height height. If you met her, they would tell you she was an incredible woman. Began making money, making a lot of money, he saw her organization, the national of negro women of which decades, esident for he saw her organization as a andp that he wanted to help give to. The organization has the only blackowned building on pennsylvania avenue. Jeffrey thompson was instrumental in helping to buy that building. You tell the story in there about how she called him. I tell the story the took a lot of research. Was able to look up lots of things. And luckily c. Span records so that are important public and you recorded jeffreyrial service and thompson runs that retail service. Hes not been charged with anything. Has there been a grand jury. Theres been a federal grand jury. And i should say one of the comfortable el so riting about him is that in many Court Documents, the court unnamed, describe an nindicted, coconspirator and its a perfect description of Jeffrey Thompson. You tried to ask if there was one . Talked to the lawyer, or i talked to brenda sullivan. For the van is known policy of not talking to the edia and not allowing his lients to talk to the media until its completed and he sticks to that script and i respect that. Jeffrey thompson at the funeral for Dorothy Height. To bind the time contract on the building. When it was to be done. Call from n urgent dr. Height. My id, dr. Height, i told secretary, i would call her back. She insisted on speaking with me. Thompson, my son, you must come now. Now i dropped everything. Got in the cab, went to see her. When i walked into her office, the winds were out certain ils because a shoulders shehoms climbed to reach success. I said, mother height, what will do . We must get this deal completed. She said. Height, give me a few minutes to reflect. She said, mr. Thompson, see what you can do. You ever met him . I have met Jeffrey Thompson. Yes. Talk to u did you him at all ever about any of this . No, i certainly tried. Way before i started researching him. Article, i ran into a social event. There are many in washington, d. C. Nikita mr. Thompson, im stewart. I said do you think we could talk now . Remember he said, no. How old is he . 58. Is he from . From jamaica in the perish of st. Elizabeth. How did he get to the United States . He moved here with his father other siblings before he moved here, his mother had come here. And two of his siblings passed away and she was upset according family members and she needed to get away. She decided to come to d. C. To and then theatives rest of her family followed her a few years later. How old was he when he came to the United States. He was only 19 years old. He he had an education in jamaica. Nothing that would really United States. So he had to start from scratch and earn a g. E. D. And went to university of the District Of Columbia. Who was the first person he met in the United States who made the connections and went on have with the politicians . Several people he met along the way. I dont know if i can pinpoint the first person. Had a relationship with up beingrman who ended secretary of labor under president clinton. A big connection. It opened the world in the white attended a state dinner for nelson mandela. Were they dating . Yes, they were. He ran in those circles. Delegate to eleanor olmes norton who we all see on colbert. That is how the rest of the country sees her. The nonvoting delegate whos trying to get right to vote. But in 1990 when she was first seat, she ran at into some tax troubles and urned to jeffrey for some advice. Actually outlined in autobiography. Interesting to see how this man, when the story broke two years like, whos ere Jeffrey Thompson. Of him. Heard a lot of the local main stream can remember seeing the black n a lot of weeklies documenting his charities. I knew this person. I knew he had city contracts but dont think people understood behindthescenes player he was starting years ago both government. To the i want to run a piece of what on a website of you. Thats new for the post . Yes, yes, its new. Used a lot of new echnology that were trying at the Washington Post. Maybe technology is the wrong word. Website ando to our you read my story, its in a different template than what stories. E with other this ere like, lets try video. Its similar to something that frontline has done. We did it. Ame and i think it turned out nice. Is this the First Television youve done . No. Do in your did you past . Just local television. In 2008, i was assigned to the of president obama. At the time, president elect obama. I made a few appearances because reporters f the covering the inauguration. So people that dont read the Washington Post, this is four pages in a newspaper sunday, to this on a july 14. How can you find it if i want to read your whole story . To Washington Post. Com. Write in Jeffrey Thompson or investigations, you i call it theres a a book mark menu at the top of if you click on it, the story will appear. Recap. S is a were going to look at this ideo and its about 2 1 2 minutes. Three years ago, mayor adrian fenti and Council Chairman vincent gray faced each other in one of the most contentious and expensive elections in d. C. s history. Fenty raised nearly 5 million his seat. The vincent gray won 1. 2 million ut he won as an affable and effective chairman. He beat fenty. 2011, ray took office in Sulaiman Brown, who had run for mayor, told the washington he was paid and promised a job in exchange for disparaging fenty in the election. Federal investigators soon discovered that much of browns story was true. They uncovered a bigger secret the Shadow Campaign. 653,000 was spent and grays behalf. On allegedly, just one man was jeffrey at money, thompson. Jamaican immigrant who moved to the United States from the 1970s, thompson earned the went to college, and built a small empire. Accounting firm Thompson Associates and he owned d. C. s Charter Health plan which earned 322 million a year in city es, the largest contract by a vendor. Rubbed elbows with the likes winfrey and Dorothy Height. He became known as a top fundraiser for a local candidate. But federal investigators alleged donors contributions from d by thompson came him or his firm. To date, five people have guilty. One of grays Campaign Aides pleaded guilty to destroying shows payments to Sulaiman Brown. Aide pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about those payments. Associate of both gray and thompson pleaded guilty to Campaign Violations and admitted Shadow Campaign. Two men with the Accounting Firm pleaded guilty to misdemeanor Campaign Violations, saying they were fraud donors with money and involved their relatives in the scam. Small point, where was that actually taped . That was taped in the wilson hall. Ing which is city they dont call it city hall here. Hey call it the Wilson Building. The Wilson Building is a facility. With decided it would be a good setting for this story. How long did it take you