St. Louis aldermanic president, two allies indicted on federal bribery charges [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

Jun. 3—ST. LOUIS — Longtime Aldermanic President Lewis Reed, Alderman Jeffrey Boyd and former Alderman John Collins-Muhammad were charged Thursday with accepting bribes from a small business owner in exchange for legislation authorizing property tax breaks.

Though speculation had grown in recent weeks that Collins-Muhammad faced federal charges after his sudden resignation from the Board of Aldermen on May 12, citing "mistakes" and a "tough" few weeks ahead, the indictment of Reed and Boyd, two of the board's longest-serving and most powerful members, came as a surprise to many.

The charges are likely to upend city politics. Both Reed and Boyd have been key players on the Board of Aldermen for more than 15 years. Collins-Muhammad, a Reed ally who was first elected in 2017, had been among the board's rising newer members.

Reed, 59, is one of the most powerful officials in city government. As president of the Board of Aldermen, a position he was first elected to in 2007, he controls bill assignments to aldermanic committees and presides over the board's weekly meetings. And along with the mayor and the comptroller, he is one of three members of the city's top fiscal body, the powerful three-member Board of Estimate and Apportionment that controls city spending.

Reed faces two bribery-related charges, according to U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming's office.

Boyd, 58, has been an alderman since 2003 and has run unsuccessfully citywide three times — once for mayor and twice for city treasurer.

He currently chairs the Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee, which oversees development-related matters, including incentives. Because of that position, he also serves on the board of the St. Louis Development Corp., which oversees tax abatement and the Land Reutilization Authority.

Boyd is facing two bribery-related charges and a separate, two-count wire fraud indictment alleging he fraudulently sought $22,000 from an insurance company for damage to vehicles that he falsely claimed to own.

Collins-Muhammad, 30, was indicted on two bribery-related charges and one charge of honest services bribery/wire fraud.

The three men, all Democrats, entered not guilty pleas at a court hearing Thursday afternoon.

Boyd declined to comment as he left the federal courthouse. Likewise, Collins-Muhammad and his attorney, Matthew Radefeld, also had no comment.

But Reed told reporters after the hearing that he had no plans to resign and that he would "continue to be a good steward for the city." An indictment, he said, "doesn't mean that you're guilty."

"The voters know me, the voters know the 20-plus years that I've served, they know my record," Reed said. "Every major development in this city I've led for 20 years."

He said he was obviously "stressed" about the charges, but that he and his legal team were still digesting the indictment "to understand what the case is. And at this point, we received the paperwork when you received it."

'Do cash rather than checks?'

The charges followed a two-and-a-half year investigation from the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office involving surveillance, hundreds of recorded phone calls and meetings and thousands of text messages and emails, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith revealed in court.

Goldsmith, who heads public corruption prosecutions, declined to answer questions because the case is pending but said in a statement outside the courthouse that the three defendants accepted cash bribes and other things of value in "pay-to-play schemes" for the passage of board bills and other official action.

The indictment alleges that Collins-Muhammad and later Reed helped a small business owner obtain a property tax abatement from the city for a new gas station and convenience store on Von Phul Street near Interstate 70 that a businessman was seeking to develop in Collins-Muhammad's 21st Ward on the north side.

The business owner is referred to as "John Doe" in the indictment. But the properties mentioned appear to correspond to sites owned by Mohammed Almuttan that were the subject of federal subpoenas sent to the city's development arm. The subpoenas were released Wednesday to the Post-Dispatch in response to an open records request.

Almuttan co-owns and operates several gas stations and convenience stores in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County. He had been one of 35 people charged in a 2017 cigarette and synthetic marijuana trafficking sting. Many of his charges were dismissed in April as part of a a plea agreement. His sentencing is set for July.

According to a news release issued by prosecutors, Reed is accused of accepting $9,000 in cash from John Doe, the business owner, in relation to tax abatement bills. Prosecutors also alleged that Doe gave Reed $6,000 in cash and $3,500 in campaign contributions for Reed's help in trying to win city contracts for Doe's trucking company and to obtain city certification for the firm as a minority business enterprise.

"Do cash rather than checks?" Doe asked Reed, according to one conversation outlined in the indictment.

"That'll work, yeah," Reed responded.

Doe then counted out $2,000 with an automatic money counter.

"That's nice," Reed said.

"Right?" Doe responded.

Collins-Muhammad is charged with accepting $7,000 in cash, $3,000 in campaign donations, a new iPhone 11 and a 2016 Volkswagen CC sedan in exchange for his help. He sponsored bills to provide property tax abatement for Doe's proposed gas station on Von Phul Street, a measure Doe estimated could save him $20,000 to $30,000 per year and that finally passed the board earlier this year. Collins-Muhammad began working with Doe on the abatement bill in January 2020, when he accepted an initial $2,500 bribe.

"You're saving me plenty of money," Doe said then.

"That's our job," Collins-Muhammad replied.

Collins-Muhammad also is accused of accepting $3,000 from Doe after setting up a meeting with an unnamed public official who could steer business to the trucking firm. Collins-Muhammad later asked for an additional $2,500 on behalf of the unnamed official but used it to buy a 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV for himself, the indictment alleges.

'Very pro-business'

The indictment also details a separate scheme related to Doe's purchase of a commercial property on Geraldine Avenue in Boyd's 22nd Ward, also on the north side, from LRA, which owns thousands of vacant lots and abandoned buildings throughout St. Louis.

Boyd said the site could be worth more than $100,000, but he wrote a letter to former LRA director Laura Costello in August 2020 supporting Doe's $9,000 offer for the property. Doe thanked him.

"My pleasure," the alderman replied. "I'm very PRO BUSINESS."

But LRA staff responded with a $33,500 counter-offer for the property.

The day before a Dec. 16, 2020, LRA board meeting, Boyd told Doe that he had "put a little pressure on them" and the staff was going to recommend the board accept Doe's offer of $14,000 for the building.

"So, um, I talked to LRA and I convinced them that, um, I need them to support what you put down," Boyd told Doe.

The LRA board approved Doe's offer.

Boyd then began working with Doe on a tax abatement for the property, accepting cash for the work. At one point, he advised Doe to "pump some numbers up" on his estimated construction costs. Boyd filled out the tax abatement application for Doe, writing in that he planned to spend $300,000 on the project when Doe told him he estimated just $125,000.

"No, that don't sound good," Boyd said in one conversation. "Because, for $125,000 you don't need tax abatement."

Boyd, who chaired the committee where many tax abatement bills went through, also helped make sure the Collins-Muhammad bill related to Doe's gas station made it through his committee during a February hearing.

"It'll get out of HUDZ, then it'll get to the floor, and only if some of these (expletive) little young white progressives act a (expletive) fool, you know," Boyd said.

Prosecutors said Boyd accepted from Doe a total of $9,500 in cash and repairs worth $2,344 to two vehicles Boyd owned. Collins-Muhammad received an additional $1,000 cash, the indictment says, for introducing Doe to Boyd.

In the separate insurance-related case, Boyd and Doe are accused of agreeing to split the proceeds of insurance fraud related to a January 2021 accident at Doe's used car lot in Jennings.

After Doe's insurance company wouldn't cover the damage, prosecutors said Boyd falsely claimed that three of the damaged vehicles were owned by a used car company that Boyd owns. Boyd's insurance company ultimately rejected the claim, prosecutors said.

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