Something stinks in the Houston Mayor's office, but now I sound redundant.
A recently surfaced email thread from 2017 reveals Mayor Sylvester Turner (Democrat)'s team was offered $500,000 by local businessman Jason Yoo for help with a private land deal. Naturally, people are now asking questions about the possibility of bribery.
The whole thing started back on August 11th, 2017 when Yoo emailed William Paul Thomas, the director of City Council Relations and Andy Icken, the City of Houston’s Chief Development Officer, for help with a private real estate project connected to the BP headquarters on the far Westside of town, a deal with about $348 million, according to reporter Mario Diaz.
In the email Yoo requests help from Turner, requesting that he talk to the "CEO of BP" to see if they can work with Yoo and his firm.
Yoo writes, "I will donate $500,000 to city or other charity firms that Mayor wants."
Yoo is no stranger to doing business with Houston city government. He was granted multiple concession contracts at George Bush Intercontinental Airpot.
Former federal prosecutor Michael Wynne has a history of prosecuting public corruption crimes.
“I’ve seen a lot of emails that have gotten people in a lot of trouble,” Wynne said. "I’m not sure how often I have seen something that is this straightforward laying out the quid pro quo that they have in mind, that is the money in return for closing a deal.”
“$500,000. They put this in an email,” Wynne said. "On the face of it, it looks like it is a bribe.”
Turner claims he never knew about the purported bribe, but evidence suggests otherwise.
On August 22, 2017, one day after Thomas and Icken sent Yoo a follow-up email, Thomas emailed Turner’s executive assistant, Brenda Murphy stating clearly that the Mayor said he would meet with Yoo regarding the BP deal.
Turner told KPRC 2 he was completely unaware of the email until we provided it to his office this week.
“The email, when I saw it yesterday, based on what you presented, the email was inappropriate and the people who work at the city, my staff and individuals looked at it and they never... they did not take any action on it.”
Yet again, the digital trail contradicts this.
Emails show Thomas and Icken did discuss it. Thomas provided Icken the financial details of Yoo’s private deal.
In fact, after Thomas wrote that the Mayor would meet with Yoo, Thomas sent the thread of internal city emails to Yoo, writing, "I’m on this! Relax.”
For the record, this is all appears to be a violation of both Federal and State of Texas Law.
It sounds an awful lot like Mayor Turner lied again.
Imagine our shocked faces.