Dawn Chavous — a political consultant and the wife of Philadelphia City councilmember Kenyatta Johnson — is defending against federal corruption charges. Chavous and Johnson are accused of accepting $66,750 in bribes from Shahied Dawan and Abdur Rahim Islam, then executives at Universal Companies, an educational and housing nonprofit. Faegre Drinker is representing Chavous in the case, which has received considerable media attention.
In January of 2020, federal prosecutors brought a 22-count indictment against our client, Johnson, Dawan and Islam. Charges included racketeering, wire fraud, tax fraud and other crimes. It is alleged that Chavous used her consulting business to disguise bribes made to her husband in return for his protection when disputes over properties it owned came before Philadelphia City Council or other city boards. If convicted as charged, Chavous would face a statutory maximum sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment.
