FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Defendant Admits Paying D.C. Government Employee for Confidential Information

            WASHINGTON – Frederick Silvers, 57, of Washington, D.C., owner of Silvers Realty Management LLC, pleaded guilty today to a federal bribery charge, admitting that he paid a District of Columbia government employee in return for confidential information.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Wayne A. Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Criminal Division, and Daniel W. Lucas, Inspector General for the District of Columbia.

            Silvers pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for Feb. 10, 2023.

            According to court papers, from July 2016 through June 2018, Silvers admitted to giving more than $2,000 in bribes to a program specialist with the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development in exchange for confidential, un-redacted Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) offer of sale notices. TOPA provides tenants living in the District of Columbia with the right to purchase their residence should the owner decide to sell the property. Under TOPA, tenants are allowed to re-assign their right to purchase to a third party. TOPA requires the owner (seller) to provide the District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development with offer of sale notices before the proposed real estate transaction.  The offer of sale notices include, among other things, information not released to the public, such as the names of tenants residing at the property.

            The D.C. government employee, Dawne Dorsey, 40, pleaded guilty in June 2019 to a federal bribery charge for related conduct.

            This case is being investigated by FBI’s Washington Field Office and the D.C. Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Aloi of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.