Howard Brooks, second Gray campaign aide charged amid federal investigation

A second member of Vincent Gray’s 2010 mayoral campaign has been charged in the wide-ranging federal investigation into the campaign’s alleged misuse of funds. Howard Brooks, 64, a consultant to Mayor Gray’s campaign, was charged on Wednesday and accused of making a false statement to FBI agents. The charge arrived in a “criminal information,” which is a type of document that may be filed only with a defendant’s consent and signals a plea deal is approaching.

Brooks has been charged with making a false statement to FBI agents when he told them he never provided cash, money orders, or other types of payments to a minor candidate in the race. Leaving the Wilson Building on Wednesday, Gray said, “There is ongoing pending investigation, so there is nothing I can say at this stage because it is continuing to unfold. I’m focused on the city at this stage, and I’m going to do everything I possibly can. … I’m focused on the job I was elected to do and I’m working all day, every day.” Brooks is charged along with Thomas Gore, 56, who is a longtime friend of Gray’s and acting treasurer for the campaign. According to prosecutors, the men made payments to keep minor candidate Sulaimon Brown in the race so the candidate would continue to attack incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty on the campaign trail. Records show that Brooks was a member of the campaign’s finance and treasury teams, and was paid $44,000 for consulting work by the Gray campaign.