(USNewsMag.com) – The Justice Department announced last week that a former agent with the FBI and a real estate developer from Washington, DC, were both sentenced after being convicted on conspiracy and bribery charges, The Hill reported.
David Paitsel, 42, and Brian Bailey, 53, were sentenced last Wednesday in connection to “schemes involving confidential information” from Washington DC’s Department of Housing and Community Development, according to the US Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Prosecutors said Paitsel and Bailey led a two-part scheme.
Bailey, a real estate developer, was convicted of bribing a program specialist with the Department of Housing and Community Development in exchange for unredacted, confidential offer of sale notices made through the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. These notices are not public information and contain such details as the names of tenants residing at a property.
According to prosecutors, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act allows DC tenants the right to purchase their home if the owner-landlord decides to sell the property. Tenants are also permitted to reassign their purchasing rights through the act to a third party.
Dawne Dorsey, the program specialist bribed by Bailey, pleaded guilty to bribery in June 2019 and will be sentenced in November, prosecutors said.
Both Bailey and former FBI agent David Paitsel were found guilty in the second part of the scheme and convicted of one count of conspiracy and one count of bribery.
As part of the scheme, Bailey paid Paitsel using bribe money to obtain contact information for the tenants who exercised their rights under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Paitsel then passed along the information using an FBI database to which he had access.
Bailey was sentenced to four years, followed by two years of supervised release. He will have to pay a $250,000 fine and a $100 special assessment.
Paitsel received a two-year sentence, followed by two years of supervised release. He too will pay a $100 special assessment as well as a $10,600 forfeiture judgment.
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