By: Bill Myers

Examiner Staff Writer

July 26, 2009

Federal prosecutors and FBI agents have opened a wide-ranging investigation into whether former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry broke federal laws by lavishing contracts on a girlfriend and on a host of questionable nonprofit groups, The Examiner has learned.

Barry, 73, was arrested by U.S. Park Police earlier this month on stalking charges after a confrontation with estranged girlfriend Donna Watts-Brighthaupt. It later emerged that Barry had given Watts-Brighthaupt a $5,000-per-month city contract shortly after they began dating. The Watts-Brighthaupt scandal led to further revelations that Barry had steered even more taxpayer dollars into dubious nonprofit groups operating in his stricken Ward 8.

That has prompted a probe that involves the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI and the D.C. inspector general, multiple law enforcement sources told The Examiner. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is in its earliest stages and because of the political sensitivities involved in once again taking on D.C.’s “mayor for life.”

Barry, whose lawyer couldn’t be reached for comment, has denied any wrongdoing.

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