Portland Official Bribed for Smart Parking Contract

George R. Levey, a 58-year-old businessman from Tarpon Springs, Florida, has been charged with honest services wire fraud for allegedly bribing a former Portland official to secure smart parking contracts. The case, which was investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation Division, is a stark reminder of the corrupting influence of bribery in public contracting.

According to court documents, Levey, formerly an executive with Schlumberger Industries, Inc. and later the owner and president of Cale Parking Systems, USA, Inc., bribed Ellis McCoy, the former City of Portland Bureau of Transportation Manager in charge of Portland’s smart parking meter program. Levey’s bribes included golf trips, gambling trips, vacation trips, and $56,675 in phony consulting fees paid to EKM Consulting, a business set up by McCoy to receive and disguise these payments.

Levey allegedly bribed McCoy to secure favorable reviews of his companies to other cities interested in buying smart parking meters. McCoy also disclosed to Levey information he learned from counterparts in other cities that would help Levey’s companies secure smart parking meter contracts with those cities. In return for the bribes, McCoy gave Levey advice on how to draft contract proposals to be submitted to the City of Portland, disclosed internal deliberations of the Portland City Council and the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and testified before the Portland City Council in favor of awarding contracts to Levey’s companies.

The bribes, which totaled $137,100, were allegedly paid over a nine-year period, from 2002 through July 2011. Levey’s companies, Schlumberger Industries, Inc. and Cale Parking Systems, USA, Inc., secured lucrative contracts to supply smart parking meters to the City of Portland as a result of McCoy’s corrupt actions.

Ellis McCoy, the former City of Portland Bureau of Transportation Manager, has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from previously undisclosed contractors and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2015.

Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams stated, ‘The citizens of every city in Oregon are entitled to honesty and transparency every time public money is spent. The bribing of public officials involved in contracting corrupts the contracting process, harms honest contractors and citizens, and diminishes public trust in local government.’

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Seth D. Uram. The charges against Levey carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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