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David Paitsel, 42, formerly of Prince George's County, and Brian Bailey, a DC real estate developer have both been sentenced to years in prison and ordered to pay hefty fines for their roles in the schemes involving confidential details held by the DC Department of Housing and Community Development.
Paitsel, who now lives in North Carolina, was sentenced to 24 months, while Bailey, of Upper Marlboro, was hit with 48 months in prison by a federal judge after they were convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges in October last year.
According to court documents, Bailey was found guilty of giving thousands of dollars in bribes to Dawne Dorsey, a program specialist with the District of Columbia 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,” prosecutors explained. "Under TOPA, tenants can 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 an offer of sale notice before the proposed real estate transaction.”
Offers of sale include confidential information not released to the public, such as the names of tenants living in the property.
As part of the scheme, officials said that both Bailey and Paitsel were found guilty of bribery and conspiracy because Bailey paid Paitsel bribes to look up the contact information of the tenants holding TOPA rights, which he did by using a database he had access to as an FBI Agent.
In addition to their prison terms, both Paitsel and Bailey were also ordered to serve 24 months of supervised release. Paitsel was ordered to forfeit $10,600, while the judge levied a $250,000 fine against Bailey.
Dorsey, 40, pleaded guilty to bribery in June 2019 and is scheduled to be sentenced in November. A fourth person, District resident Frederick Silvers, also pleaded guilty to bribery and was sentenced to five months in prison for bribes that were paid to her.
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