Disbarred For Liquor License Bribes

The Maryland Court of Appeals accepted the consent disbarment of a lawyer/lobbyist whose conduct was described by the Washington Post

A Maryland lobbyist pleaded guilty Friday to bribing a state legislator in a wide-reaching scheme involving expanded liquor licenses in Prince George’s County.

Matthew Gorman, a 43-year-old Hyattsville attorney, entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt and admitted giving more than $5,000 in bribes to William A. Campos for political favors Campos did as a state and county elected official.

The payoffs were made after Campos agreed to intercede and help two businesses get or preserve their liquor licenses and for Campos’s backing of a bill to expand permits for Sunday liquor sales in the county, according to details in Gorman’s plea agreement.

Gorman, who worked to promote liquor businesses’ interests, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

Campos, a Hyattsville Democrat, pleaded guilty in January to accepting $40,000 to $50,000 from a number of sources in exchange for official action, in addition to directing more than $325,000 in public money intended for charitable giving toward those who gave him personal payments while he was on the Prince George’s County Council.

A sentencing date has not been set for Campos, who was a councilman for a decade, ending in November 2014, and then was a state delegate from January 2015 until he resigned eight months later.

(Mike Frisch)