Potter’s responsibilities include managing and operating Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports, the only two federally owned airports. He also oversees the Dulles Toll Road.
Since taking on his role in 2011, Potter has focused on improving efficiency and technology at the airports. In July, the authority’s board approved a $16.4 million overhaul of two of the Dulles airport’s mobile lounges. The authority also has an option of rehabbing the other vehicles in its 60-year-old mobile lounge fleet for $143 million. Meanwhile, a July effort to add more long-term flights at Reagan was defeated in Congress; local residents and officials were concerned about congestion and noise, as well as safety risks posed by adding flights to what is already one of the nation’s busiest airports.
A New York native whose father was a letter carrier and postal executive, Potter previously served as U.S. postmaster general for 10 years, modernizing the system and managing a workforce of more than 500,000 employees. Potter earned degrees from Fordham University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Advisory Committee on Travel and Tourism Infrastructure.
Di Rita, who had already had an impressive 25-year career in the Navy and federal government, embarked on a second career as a banking executive when he joined Bank of America in 2006. He was named market president for Greater Washington, D.C., in 2019.
From 2001 to 2006, Di Rita served as special assistant to the secretary of defense and was also Defense Department spokesman and head of DoD’s Office of Public Affairs. From 1996 to 2001, Di Rita was legislative director and chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. He served as a naval officer from 1980 to 1993.
Di Rita has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.
He’s currently the Rumsfeld Foundation’s board secretary and a member of the U.S. Navy Memorial’s board of directors.
Bank of America posted $94.95 million in 2022 revenue, with $3.1 trillion in total assets. Over the past decade, Bank of America’s network has contracted almost in half to 3,800 branches, but its consumer deposits have almost doubled to $1 trillion. The bank is adding branches in four states, it announced in June.
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Karl Racine announced on Twitter Thursday afternoon that his office is suing the Washington Commanders team, owner Dan Snyder, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the National Football League, accusing the defendants of “colluding to deceive District residents … about an investigation into toxic workplace culture,” referring to the NFL’s 2021 probe into reports of alleged sexual harassment of female employees by team executives, including Snyder.
In a series of tweets, Racine said, “After public reporting revealed that sexual misconduct, harassment and misogyny ran rampant for decades at the team, the defendants promised D.C. residents that the league was going to fix this toxic culture, including by fully cooperating with an independent investigation. That was all a lie.”
The lawsuit was filed in the D.C. Superior Court and seeks injunctive, equitable and declaratory relief; restitution and damages; civil penalties; and attorneys’ fees.
Preceding Thursday’s announcement, the Ashburn-based Commanders team made a statement in which a spokesperson said, “The Commanders have fully cooperated with the [D.C.] AG’s investigation for nearly a year. As recently as Monday, a lawyer for the team met with the AG, who did not suggest at that time that he intended to take any action and, in fact, revealed fundamental misunderstandings of the underlying facts. It is unfortunate that, in his final days in office, Mr. Racine appears more interested in making splashy headlines based on offbeat legal theories, rather than doing the hard work of making the streets safe for our citizens, including bringing to justice the people who shot one of our players.”
Washington Commanders running back Brian Robinson was injured in a shooting Aug. 28 in northeast Washington. Two teen suspects have been arrested, according to The Washington Post, and police have said they are searching for a third suspect. After the Commanders’ statement Wednesday, Robinson’s agent, Ryan Williams of Athletes First, tweeted, “Up until an hour ago, the Commanders handled the Brian Robinson situation with so much care, sincerity and class. And I was so grateful for all of it. Although I know that there are some great humans in that building, whoever is hiding behind this statement is not one of them.”
In his statement, Racine, who did not seek reelection this year, said that he is not filing suit against the team or Snyder regarding workplace harassment or misconduct “because these actions largely took place outside the District.” The Commanders’ front office is in Ashburn and the team’s stadium is in Maryland, but Racine said in his statement that D.C. residents represent “the heart of the Commanders’ fanbase” and that the lawsuit is meant to “stand up for D.C. residents who were lied to and deceived.”
The D.C. lawsuit is part of a flurry of activity surrounding Snyder, who may sell the team and hired Bank of America Securities “to consider potential transactions” earlier this month. Among the potential buyers is Amazon.com Inc. Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos, who reportedly may team up with rapper and music mogul Jay-Z and actor Matthew McConaughey. Other people mentioned as having an interest in buying the Commanders are Entertainment Studios Inc. Chairman and CEO Byron Allen, who also tried to buy the Broncos; Tesla and SpaceX head Elon Musk, who took over Twitter recently for $44 billion; Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, who also are bidding on the Washington Nationals baseball team; and former Broncos bidders Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano, according to the Post report.
Meanwhile, the NFL, the U.S. Congress and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares are also investigating the Commanders, as well as the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia, which has opened a criminal probe into alleged financial improprieties by the team. In 2021, the NFL fined the team $10 million, and Snyder ceded day-to-day operations to his wife, Tanya Snyder, who took over as co-CEO.
MicroStrategy Inc. founder Michael Saylor was sued in August by the city of Washington, D.C., which alleges that he defrauded the nation’s capital of more than $25 million in income taxes. The lawsuit argues that Saylor falsely claimed to reside in Virginia or Florida while instead living in a luxury Georgetown penthouse.
The civil suit, filed Aug. 22 by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine in the District of Columbia Superior Court, also names MicroStrategy as a defendant.
MicroStrategy’s executive chairman, Saylor stepped down as CEO following the Tysons-based tech company’s August earnings report, which tallied a $1.98 billion impairment loss on its bitcoin holdings. Saylor is a major bitcoin influencer on Twitter, and MicroStrategy is the largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
According to the lawsuit, since 2005, Saylor has lived in “Trigate,” his 7,000-square-foot waterfront D.C. penthouse. In 2012, he bought a house in Miami Beach, got a Florida driver’s license and registered to vote there.
Around 2013, the suit alleges, Saylor asked MicroStrategy to begin using his Florida address on tax forms while MicroStrategy provided him with a security detail and transportation in D.C. and was aware of his residency there.
About a year later, according to the lawsuit, MicroStrategy’s then-chief financial officer grew concerned after finding that Saylor spent the majority of each year in D.C. Saylor agreed to reduce his salary to $1, but his compensation remained high because of fringe benefits, the lawsuit says.
MicroStrategy continued to report Saylor’s Florida address on his W-2s from 2014 through 2021, and failed to withhold D.C. income taxes, the lawsuit says, adding, “This was no mere clerical error.”
Saylor and MicroStrategy deny the allegations.
“Although MicroStrategy is based in Virginia, Florida is where I live, vote and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life,” Saylor said in a statement.
Accusing D.C. of “overreach,” MicroStrategy called the case a “personal tax matter” involving Saylor.
Under the city’s new False Claims Act, Saylor, who has a reported net worth of $1.6 billion, could be found personally liable for more than $75 million in unpaid taxes and penalties.
The act encourages whistleblowers to report instances of city residents evading tax laws by misrepresenting where they live. In this case, whistleblowers filed an April 2021 lawsuit against Saylor alleging tax fraud.
Tysons-based MicroStrategy Inc. Executive Chairman Michael Saylor is being sued by the city of Washington, D.C., which accuses Saylor of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to deprive the city of more than $25 million in income taxes while living in “a luxury penthouse on the Georgetown waterfront” and claiming to be a resident of Virginia or Florida.
The civil lawsuit, filed Aug. 22 by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine in the District of Columbia Superior Court and unsealed Wednesday, also names MicroStrategy as a defendant, alleging that the company and its executives conspired with Saylor to avoid his obligations to pay city income taxes. Under the city’s new False Claims Act, Saylor, who ranks No. 1,818 on Fortune’s list of world billionaires with an estimated net worth of $1.6 billion, could be found personally liable for more than $75 million in unpaid taxes and penalties if the lawsuit is successful.
“A decade ago, I bought an historic house in Miami Beach and moved my home there from Virginia,” Saylor said in a written statement sent to Virginia Business. “Although MicroStrategy is based in Virginia, Florida is where I live, vote and have reported for jury duty, and it is at the center of my personal and family life. I respectfully disagree with the position of the District of Columbia, and look forward to a fair resolution in the courts.”
In August, Saylor stepped down as CEO of the publicly traded tech company he cofounded in 1989, taking on the position of executive chairman, while MicroStrategy President Phong Le was appointed CEO. The move followed MicroStrategy’s August earnings report, which tallied the company’s $1.98 billion impairment loss on its bitcoin holdings. Saylor has long been a vocal advocate of bitcoin, and the company is best known as the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, having invested nearly $4 billion in the cryptocurrency.
Racine’s office alleges that Saylor avoided paying more than $25 million in taxes “by pretending to be a resident of other states with lower personal income taxes.” The attorney general is seeking to recover unpaid income taxes and penalties from both Saylor and MicroStrategy that could total more than $100 million, according to a release from Racine’s office.
According to the lawsuit, from 2005 to the present, Saylor has lived in “Trigate,” his 7,000-square-foot waterfront D.C. penthouse — where he’s docked “multiple yachts on the District’s Potomac riverfront” — but has claimed to be a Virginia resident. In 2012, according to the lawsuit, Saylor commenced a scheme to “fraudulently misrepresent” himself as a resident of Florida, where he bought a house in Miami Beach. He also obtained a driver’s license in the Sunshine State and registered to vote there.
At the same time, Saylor’s conduct — including voting three times in Florida elections using absentee ballots sent to Tysons or D.C., according to the lawsuit — showed that he didn’t intend to abandon the nation’s capital.
MicroStrategy has invested more than $4 billion in bitcoin. Photo by Stephen Gosling
During or around 2013, Saylor asked MicroStrategy to begin using his Florida address on Internal Revenue Service forms, the lawsuit alleges, instead of his actual home address in D.C. MicroStrategy was aware that Saylor actually lived in D.C., according to the suit, because the company provided him with a security detail and transportation services such as flights and personal drivers.
About a year later, the company’s then-chief financial officer grew concerned about MicroStrategy’s involvement in the scheme, according to the lawsuit, and counted the days Saylor spent in the District, finding Saylor spent a majority of each year there. When confronted about the scheme to avoid paying D.C. taxes, and Saylor’s possible liability to the company, Saylor agreed to a reduction of salary to $1, but his compensation remained higher because of fringe benefits, including use of the company’s plane, the lawsuit says.
MicroStrategy continued to report Saylor’s Florida address on his W-2s from 2014 through 2021, and failed to withhold D.C. income taxes.
“This was no mere clerical error,” the lawsuit says, alleging that MicroStrategy conspired with Saylor.
MicroStrategy responded to the allegations in a written statement, sent to Virginia Business.
“The case is a personal tax matter involving Mr. Saylor,” the statement said. “The company was not responsible for his day-to-day affairs and did not oversee his individual tax responsibilities. Nor did the company conspire with Mr. Saylor in the discharge of his personal tax responsibilities. The District of Columbia’s claims against the company are false and we will defend aggressively against this overreach.”
Saylor, a well-known “bitcoin whale,” is prolific on Twitter, with more than 2.6 million followers. He made no mention of the lawsuit there Wednesday, instead tweeting about the cryptocurrency.
Saylor has also been known for his lavish parties and for his playboy lifestyle. In 2012, he purchased a waterfront Miami Beach home for $13.1 million, according to a 2014 story in The Washington Post. The 18,000-square-foot mansion, Villa Vecchia, has 13 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms.
That purchase came just after Saylor spent $5 million on custom woodwork for Trigate, which Saylor formed from his purchase of three units at the K Street NW Georgetown building between 2006 and 2008, the lawsuit says. Saylor posted on social media frequently before and during renovations of Trigate, during which Saylor lived on his yachts as well as in another penthouse he owned in the city’s Adams Morgan neighborhood. The lawsuit cited those posts as evidence that Saylor considered D.C. his home.
The lawsuit is filed under a new D.C. law — the False Claims Act — that encourages whistleblowers to report instances of city residents evading tax laws by misrepresenting where they live. The act allows the court to punish tax evaders by imposing three times the amount of the taxes evaded. If the suit is successful, whistleblowers may be awarded up to 30% of the collected funds .
In Saylor’s case, whistleblowers represented by Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft filed an April 2021 lawsuit against Saylor alleging tax fraud between 2014 and 2020, according to a release from Racine’s office. The release also says the whistleblowers’ complaint alleges Saylor openly bragged about evading taxes. That complaint too was unsealed and released publicly Wednesday.
Winchester-based accounting and consulting firm Yount, Hyde and Barbour (YHB) will acquire Maryland-based firm Glass Jacobson PA on July 1.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed in Wednesday’s announcement.
“We are excited to welcome the Glass Jacobson team to the YHB family,” YHB Managing Partner Scott Moulden said in a statement. “We expect their team’s capabilities will enhance our already rapidly expanding reach into the Maryland/D.C. market. YHB and the Glass Jacobson team share the same values of empowering clients and communities with world-class service.”
Established in 1962, Glass Jacobson offers tax, audit and consulting services in the Baltimore and greater Washington, D.C., area. YHB and Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors LLC will form a joint venture to provide wealth management.
“Together, we will be able to provide greater resources to our clients and communities,” Edward J. Jacobson, managing director and firm president of Glass Jacobson, said in a statement. “Our mission to empower the future is steadfast when joining YHB. We will be providing the same excellent solutions that our clients have become accustomed to, with the addition of new and exciting advancements.”
Glass Jacobson’s six principals and 54 other staff members will join YHB, bringing the firm’s total to almost 300 employees. The new employees will continue to work out of Glass Jacobson’s offices in Rockville, Maryland, and Owings Mills, Maryland, which will give YHB 11 offices total.
Established in 1947, YHB offers accounting, auditing, tax, wealth management and risk advisory services. YHB ranked No. 6 on Accounting Today’s 2022 Regional Leaders list for the Top Firms in the Capital Region, with $37.95 million in annual revenue.
Music superstar and Virginia Beach native Pharrell Williams announced Tuesday that his signature three-day music festival, Something in the Water, will be held in June in Washington, D.C., making its departure from Virginia Beach official.
Scheduled for June 17-19 on Independence Avenue, the three-day festival includes a long list of pop and hip-hop artists, including “Pharrell & phriends & some people we can’t announce.”
The festival was previously held on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront in April 2019, before the pandemic caused its cancellation in 2020 and 2021. In September 2021, however, Williams wrote a letter to the city manager saying that he would cancel the 2022 festival because of the city’s “toxic energy.” He said that the fallout from his cousin Donovon Lynch’s killing by a Virginia Beach police officer in March 2021 and a special grand jury’s finding of no probable cause to charge the officer, combined with other issues surrounding Williams’ economic development projects in the city, made him decide to call off the festival, which yielded $24 million in local economic impact in 2019.
However, in recent weeks, there were rumors of the festival moving to Washington, confirmed Tuesday via Williams’ social media platforms and the event’s website.
Barry Biggar, president and CEO of Visit Fairfax, said that his office is excited about SITW’s move, but the festival’s impact on surrounding Northern Virginia localities “depends on how full the hotels in D.C. are and how much they charge. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
In a January interview with Virginia Business, Williams said that he wanted to restage the festival elsewhere, noting, “Something in the Water — when you talk DMV, they always say, ‘Man, whether it’s Missy Elliott or Timbaland or Chad Hugo or Michael Vick, it must be something in the water.'”
Washington Gas gifted Virginia Tech $430,000 to help increase pathways into higher education in STEM disciplines, the university announced Monday.
“Washington Gas is honored to partner with Virginia Tech and promote STEM education across the commonwealth of Virginia. Together, our program will help shape future generations of students and workers exploring energy in school studies or as an occupation,” Washington Gas President Blue Jenkins said in a statement.
The two entities will provide professional learning programs for career and technical education and other science, technology, engineering and math teachers and administrators. The programs will help them develop and implement 10 energy-focused high school courses in their school divisions. Eight of the new courses were designed by representatives from the energy industry, community colleges, nonprofits, James Madison University and Virginia Tech under the Virginia Department of Education’s leadership.
Students can participate in any two or more of the courses to prepare for college engineering programs while achieving industry certifications.
Tech’s Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity and its School of Education will support the STEM outreach program. The program builds on Tech’s Qualcomm Thinkabit Lab in Northern Virginia, which has hosted more than 20,000 students and teachers since 2016.
“The Washington Gas leaders have already helped to expand our programs and outreach. We know the outcomes and impacts over the next three years will only grow,” said Jim Egenrieder, founding director of the Virginia Tech Thinkabit Lab and the leader of the College of Engineering’s STEM education outreach in the D.C. area, in a statement. “
Tech has also begun developing energy-related tech modules for elementary and middle school and developed new STEM initiatives and youth leadership programs supporting Alexandria, Arlington, Falls Church and Fairfax County schools.
Dominion Energy Inc. announced Friday it had signed a definitive agreement to sell its West Virginia natural gas utility to Washington, D.C.-based financial services company Ullico Inc.’s infrastructure business for $690 million.
The sale of Hope Gas Inc., also known as Dominion Energy West Virginia (DEWV), is expected to close later this year.
“For nearly 125 years, Dominion Energy West Virginia has provided reliable and affordable natural gas safely to the people and businesses of the Mountain State,” Dominion Energy Chair, President and CEO Robert M. Blue said in a statement. “DEWV is a valuable business with tremendous employees. The business and its people will fit extremely well with Ullico’s commitment to safety and their mission to serve American workers and customers.”
Clarksburg, West Virginia-based DEWV has about 300 people and serves 111,000 West Virginia customers. The utility has 3,200 miles of gas distribution pipelines and more than 2,000 miles of gathering pipelines.
Ullico Inc.’s infrastructure business plans to integrate the utility with Hearthstone Utilities Inc., its portfolio company that owns and operates gas utilities in Indiana, Maine, Montana, North Carolina and Ohio. Hearthstone will move its headquarters to West Virginia.
“We are excited about the opportunity to continue to build on and invest in this important and valuable West Virginia company,” Hearthstone President and CEO Morgan O’Brien said in a statement. “Our vision is to grow the business and expand the footprint within the state, including to underserved communities.”
Dominion Energy will continue to own and operate Mount Storm Power Station in Mount Storm, West Virginia.
Amazon.com Inc. announced Wednesday a $21 million grant to create a professional training, mentorship and capital funding program for real estate developers of color focused on affordable housing.
“With this accelerator program, we are laser focused on lifting up emerging real estate developers of color. We want to foster their professional growth through education and training, as well as improve their access to capital, which can be elusive to developers of color,” Catherine Buell, director of the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, said in a statement.
With the Amazon Housing Equity Fund grant, Arlington-based Capital Impact Partners created the Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship. The fellowship is a two-year, part-time professional development program for a cohort of real estate developers with practical experience in the field and a focus on affordable housing development.
“Developers of color bring enormous opportunity for inclusive ideas and creativity to community-focused real estate development, but the barrier to entry is often very high for these individuals,” Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, said in a statement. “We are excited about the support from Amazon to create this fellowship and work to bridge those gaps and foster opportunity and inclusivity for developers.”
The program will provide real estate training focused on developing affordable housing in the Washington, D.C., area, small group mentorship and access to grant capital for pre-development expenses.
To be eligible, fellows need to be Black, indigenous or people of color, full-time developers, have completed two affordable housing development projects or have two underway, have affordable residential development activities focused on the greater Washington, D.C., area and be in need of additional balance sheet capacity and access to networks and specialized training topics to grow their businesses.
Amazon created its more than $2 billion Housing Equity Fund to provide below-market loans and grants to preserve and create more than 20,000 affordable homes for individuals and families earning moderate to low incomes in hometown cities of Seattle; Nashville, Tennessee and the Washington, D.C., area.
Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more than $2.5 billion since 1982.
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