Contractor Charged with Bribing Former City of Portland Smart Parking Meter Manager

Topics:  Ellis McCoy, George R. Levey

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Oregon
9 April 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PORTLAND, Ore. – Billy J. Williams, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, today announced the unsealing of a criminal Information charging George R. Levey, 58, of Tarpon Springs, Florida, with honest services wire fraud in connection with Levey allegedly bribing Ellis McCoy, the former City of Portland Bureau of Transportation Manager in charge of Portland’s smart parking meter program.

The Information alleges that from 2002 through July 2011, Levey, formerly an executive with Schlumberger Industries, Inc. and later the owner and president of Cale Parking Systems, USA, Inc., bribed McCoy with golf trips, gambling trips, vacation trips, $56,675 in phony consulting fees paid to EKM Consulting, a business McCoy set up to receive and disguise these payments, and the promised payment of $137,100 when McCoy ended his employment with the City of Portland.

It is further alleged that Levey bribed McCoy so McCoy would speak favorably about Levey’s companies to other cities interested in buying smart parking meters. Additionally, McCoy would disclose to Levey information he learned from counterparts in other cities that would help Levey’s companies secure smart parking meter contracts with those cities, and would help Levey’s companies secure, keep, and expand contracts to supply smart parking meters to the City of Portland. In return for the bribes, McCoy gave Levey advice about how to draft contract proposals to be submitted to the City of Portland, disclosed to Levey 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 citizens of every city in Oregon are entitled to honesty and transparency every time public money is spent,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams. “The bribing of public officials involved in contracting corrupts the contracting process, harms honest contractors and citizens, and diminishes public trust in local government. This office, working with its law enforcement partners, makes it a priority to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who bribe public officials and the public officials themselves.”

Ellis McCoy has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from previously undisclosed contractors and is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2015.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Seth D. Uram.

Date	Document Name & Details	Documents
16 May 2014 date signed	United States of America v. George R. Levey Information United States District Court, District of Oregon, Portland Division	PDF - 65KB - 4 pages