Brian Busby, the former Chief Operating Officer at HISD, and Anthony Hutchison, a landscaping contractor for the district, are on trial together in federal court.
In February 2020, federal agents raided Busby's office at the HISD administration building, Hutchison's office, and both of the men's homes. Federal prosecutor Robert Johnson said Tuesday that 75 agents were involved in what was defined as a "huge operation." He said they collected cellphones, computers, and thousands of documents. Johnson said they had to get a box truck to haul away all of the documents from Hutchison's property.
PREVIOUS REPORT: Pretrial hearing held in bribery case against former Houston ISD COO Brian Busby
Court proceeds this morning in bribery case against former HISD COO
In the indictment, prosecutors accused Busby of steering landscaping contracts to Hutchison's companies in exchange for monetary kickbacks. They accuse the two of participating in the scheme for seven years and taking $7 million from the district.
Hutchison is accused of charging the district for cutting the grass on school campuses more than he did and overbilling them for mulch. During opening statements, Johnson said Hutchison overbilled HISD more than $800,000 every year beginning in 2013.
During the search, Johnson said they found a ledger that belonged to Hutchison that detailed "bribe payments," including the amount, the location where the money was paid, the school where the alleged work was done, the type of work, the HISD invoice number, and the recipient.
In one case, Johnson said former HISD Board of Trustees President Rhonda Skillern-Jones used leftover bond funds to put in a pond and garden on campus and awarded the contract to Hutchison's company. Prosecutors allege that Skillern-Jones met Busby in a Walmart parking lot to collect "thousands of dollars."
Following the FBI raids, Hutchison was interviewed by federal agents. Johnson said when asked, Hutchison said there were no issues with what he billed HISD. He said five days later, Hutchison called a meeting with HISD and said he had noticed several months prior that he had overbilled them and wrote the district a check for $850,000 that the district deposited.
Johnson detailed an elaborate scheme by Hutchison to involve others he did business with to help create false invoices and deposit checks for cash that he used to pay the bribes.
From 2015 to 2021, Johnson said Busby deposited $3 million in cash between 18 bank accounts and did not include them on his tax returns.
Johnson said the men "cheated children of Houston out of education funds and stole the city's tax dollars."
Letitia Quinones and Rusty Hardin represent Hutchison. During her opening statement, Quinones detailed Hutchison's upbringing, family life, and how he started his company. During his life, the former NFL player developed a gambling addiction and his attorney said he lost millions.
She said Busby was not on every committee that awarded contracts to Hutchison and could not have influenced everyone who was required to approve a contract.
Quinones said Hutchison got the contracts he did because of his hard, quality work.
Blame for the overbilling was placed on one of Hutchison's longtime employees, who Quinones said would testify during the trial. She said her client told agents following the raid that he was not "systematically overbilling" the district.
"Sometimes the government gets it wrong," Quinones said.
She described prosecutors as having "tunnel vision" and looking for facts to meet their narrative.
Hutchison's team alleges the ledger found during the search was related to his gambling.
Dick DeGuerin, who represents Brian Busby, agreed with Quinones that Busby and Hutchison became friends after he was awarded the contract with the district. They pointed out to jurors that there was not an issue with the two traveling together or with Hutchison remodeling Busby's house for a reasonable price.
He also argued that Busby did not have a hand in Hutchison being awarded contracts with the district.
"If there's no quid pro quo then this whole case goes away," DeGuerin said.
Throughout opening statements, both prosecutors and defense attorneys let jurors know who would be taking the stand throughout the trial, including five former HISD employees, including Skillern Jones, who pleaded guilty to accepting bribes already. Their pleas were part of a plea agreement with the U.S. government.
"There is a little bit of ammunition for the defense because they get to argue, 'This is a cooperating witness. This is someone that gets a benefit for their bargain,'" legal analyst Steve Shellist said. "But on the other side, these witnesses tend to be extremely powerful and extremely dangerous for the defense because they've accepted responsibility and a jury is looking at them and saying, 'Well, if they accepted responsibility, surely they wouldn't accept responsibility for something they didn't do.'"
DeGuerin announced that Busby will take the stand in his own defense and cautioned jurors not to make up their minds until they heard what he had to say.
"If they are someone that comes across as credible and believable, then it will benefit the defense," Shellist said. "If it is someone that lacks either one of those, then it could be a huge, costly mistake to the defense."
Hutchison's team has not said if he will testify.
The trial is expected to last three weeks. The jury consists of six men and eight women.
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