Former U.S. Virgin Islands Sen. Roosevelt David was the man who delivered cash bribes to Gov. John de Jongh in the bribery scandal, The Daily Caller’s Department of Justice source said.
According to a knowledgeable government official who served on a Department of Justice team put in place to arrest finance executives close to that telecommunications deal, de Jongh accepted a portion of at least $20 million in cash bribes that floated throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands government.
The U.S. Department of Justice, the source said, never acted on sealed indictments related to a years-long criminal scheme involving bank fraud and other financial crimes.
The bribes, according to the source, were for de Jongh, his attorney general, Vincent Frazer, and assorted Virgin Islands legislators — all aimed at quashing local concerns about financial irregularities identified on the books of the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Cooperative (CFC).
TheDC’s Department of Justice source said David was the “bag man,” or the ally of the governor and CFC who delivered the cash bribes from CFC to the governor.
CFC and its subsidiary, the Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative (RTFC), hired David shortly after he ended his tenure in the Virgin Islands legislature.
In September 2007, the St. Thomas Source reported that RTFC and CFC had hired David to be a “consultant.” Local news outlets have also reported David’s close political proximity to de Jongh and, according to a February 2012 Virgin Islands Daily News story, de Jongh had hired David as a “Special Assistant to the Governor.”
It’s unclear specifically if David’s employment with RTFC and CFC overlapped with his employment as an adviser to de Jongh. When TheDC contacted David and asked him about his role with CFC, he refused comment. “I’m not in a position to have this interview, sir,” David told TheDC. He then promptly hung up the phone.
TheDC hasn’t been able to reach David since then to ask him follow-up questions.