FBI raids target local firm, Laredo government offices
Engineering company cuts wide swath in politics and business
A four-city FBI sweep targeted a Houston-based engineering company and a slew of local government offices in Laredo with daylong raids in an investigation still shrouded in mystery.
Federal agents spent most of Wednesday combing through the Houston, Laredo, San Antonio and McAllen offices of Dannenbaum Engineering, the Bayou City-based company headed by prolific political donor and former University of Texas System Regent James Dannenbaum.
The 77-year-old businessman, who was tied to a series of FBI raids in El Paso a decade ago, has many ongoing contracts with Houston and Harris County.
As the flurry of FBI activity continued into Wednesday afternoon, Dannenbaum Engineering’s attorney said the company had no idea what sparked the searches.
“We are uncertain whether the inquiry is focused on the company’s activities or those of its business competitors,” attorney Joel Androphy said in the statement. “We intend to comment further when appropriate.”
Sometime Wednesday morning, agents took control of Dannenbaum Engineering’s building at 3100 W. Alabama and told employees to leave.
The FBI, aided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, similarly booted workers from the company’s Embassy Oaks location in San Antonio and the West Nolana building in McAllen.
Meanwhile in Laredo, law enforcement raided City Hall, the City Hall Annex, the Public Works Department, offices of Webb County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jaime Canales and Dannenbaum’s McPherson Road location, where agents removed the building’s front door.
None of the raids netted any arrests by late Wednesday afternoon, and authorities did not release any information about what sparked the statewide federal scrutiny.
“Once we’re completed, I expect the business will go on as normal,” FBI spokeswoman Shauna Dunlap
said.
Dannenbaum is one of the most prolific engineering companies in Houston and does extensive work with local government agencies, according to Jeff Nielsen, executive vice president of the Houston Contractors Association.
“Dannenbaum has been a very reputable and wellregarded engineering firm,” Nielsen said. Many projects
The company has engineered storm sewer drainage projects for subdivisions across Harris County and has consulted on local flood prevention efforts.
Dannenbaum won a $3 million terminal redevelopment contract for the Port of Houston in 2011, and in 2012, a former Dannenbaum CEO became executive director of the port.
The company has also engineered bridges, pumping stations and airport facilities, and in 2014 won a contract to renovate the AT&T building in Pasadena. City officials dropped that contract in 2017 after FEMA funding for the renovation, associated with Hurricane Ike damage, never materialized.
Dannenbaum has received more than $3.5 million from the city of Houston for work since 2010 and has five current contracts with the city.
Harris County engineer John Blount said that the county also has multiple active contracts with Dannenbaum.
Harris County Toll Road Authority officials said they were working on reviewing their contracts with Dannenbaum in response to media inquiries but could not provide details Wednesday.
The Houston engineer has been a longtime player in state politics and has served on the Board of Visitors of MD Anderson Cancer Center and the UT Houston Medical School Development Board.
Nielsen described Dannenbaum as “a leader in the engineering community” who is well-connected in business circles.
The fifth-generation Texan has also consistently offered financial support for mostly Republican political causes, pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into political races across the state during 2016 alone.
In 2007, he was appointed to a six-year term on the University of Texas System Board of Regents.
At the time, the move by Gov. Rick Perry sparked some controversy in light of the engineering company’s business dealings, questions surrounding a multimillion-dollar bridge project and an FBI corruption investigation in El Paso County. Earlier controversies
Just months before Dannenbaum’s appointment to the UT Regents was announced, federal agents in El Paso County raided the homes and offices of public officials who had been associated with Dannenbaum and his company. Two of those officials — a county judge and commissioner — had accepted contributions from Dannenbaum earlier in the year.
The investigation was focused on possible bribes disguised as campaign contributions, but neither Dannenbaum nor his company were charged.
The company was also embroiled in scandal over a bridge planned to span the Port of Brownsville to Matamoros, Mexico.
Dannenbaum was hired for engineering and spent $15 million without ever building the bridge, which sparked lawsuits.
County officials in Brownsville seized about $1 million from the Dannenbaum company there, and the firm was eventually cleared of wrongdoing.
More recently, Dannenbaum has been mired in controversy in Laredo, where Mayor Pete Saenz contested a $1-millionplus contract awarded to Dannenbaum in 2014.
Saenz said the city picked the company without posting a request for other proposals in a water line project.
The mayor sought to overturn the city council’s contract decision, but council members overruled his veto and instead agreed to have an internal auditor review engineering and architectural contract awards over a fiveyear period.
Dannenbaum Engineering currently has offices in Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, as well as the locations targeted in Wednesday’s raids.