The federal investigation into the finances of Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., has hit close to home in District politics, costing a consultant for Muriel Bowser’s mayoral campaign his job.  

Strategist Tom Lindenfeld, who also consulted for former D.C. Mayors Anthony A. Williams and Adrian Fenty, was cut from Bowser’s campaign after being implicated in court documents related to former Fattah aide Gregory Naylor’s guilty plea . The news was first reported by Washington City Paper’s Loose Lips , which quoted Bowser saying she was “quite surprised by the allegations” and that Lindenfeld no longer had a role on her campaign.  

Lindenfeld helped guide Bowser to her April 1 primary victory , defeating incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray to become the Democratic nominee. His other Pennsylvania ties include working on the campaigns of former Gov. Edward G. Rendell and former Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street.  

The allegations appear to stem from Lindenfeld’s role as a consultant on Fattah’s failed 2007 mayoral campaign.  

Lindenfeld is identified by the Philadelphia Inquirer  as “Person B,”  the founder and partner in a Washington, D.C. political consulting firm, who allegedly signed a promissory note for an illegal $1 million loan through his consulting company. Portions of the loan were directed to Naylor’s firm, according to the plea, and approximately $600,000 was spent on behalf of a failed mayoral campaign.  

Some of the money was spent on media buys, and approximately $200,000 in cash was handed out in the form of “walking around money” to campaign supporters on Election Day. According to the plea, “Person B” requested Naylor submit a false invoice for the cash. After their candidate lost the election, “Person B” returned the unspent $400,000 of the loan, leaving a $600,000 loan balance. The plea then details a fraudulent scheme to repay the debt using funds from a nonprofit.  

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