Company with ties to Trump’s brother got U.S. contract

A company in which President Donald Trump’s brother has a financial stake received a

$33 million contract from the U.S. Marshals Service earlier this year, an award that has drawn protests from two other bidders, one of which has filed a complaint alleging possible favoritism in the bidding process.

The lucrative government contract, to provide security for federal courthouses and cell blocks, went to CertiPath, a Reston, Va.-based company that has since 2013 been owned in part by a firm linked to Robert Trump, the president’s younger brother.

After the contract was awarded, an anonymous rival bidder filed a complaint with the Justice Department’s office of the inspector general, alleging that CertiPath failed to disclose that “one of the President’s closest living relatives stood to benefit financially from the transaction,” according to a copy of the July 22 complaint letter obtained by the Washington Post.

“The circumstances of this contract award, and what appear to be CertiPath’s efforts to obscure Mr. Robert Trump’s financial interest in the company even as it trades on the Trump name, present the appearance of preferential treatment for those who are close to the President,” said the complaint, which was sent by Venable, a Washington law firm, on behalf of the client.

Dismas Locaria, a Venable lawyer who signed the complaint letter, declined to disclose the name of his client.

A phone message left for Robert Trump through Trump Management, of which he is president, was not returned.

CertiPath’s president and founder, Jeff Nigriny, said in a statement that Robert Trump “is one investor in an entity which holds a minority interest in Certipath” and that “he is exclusively a passive investor, has no management role whatsoever, is not an officer or director, and his name has never been used or mentioned by Certipath in any solicitation for a government contract, whether state or federal.”

Nigriny said that the company is unaware of the complaint filed with the Justice Department’s inspector general.

The company specializes in digital security and verifying online identities.

“Certipath has never used the Trump name in any way, and to do so would be completely inconsistent with our business practices and ethics,” Nigriny added.

While the contract has been awarded, so far no money has been paid out. That’s because a second company, NMR Consulting of Chantilly, Va., also filed a protest against the bid with the Government Accountability Office on July 1.

That bid protest has led to a “stop work order” on the contract, said Drew Wade, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service.

“There’s no money being spent with CertiPath until this issue is resolved,” Wade said.

Wade added that the U.S. Marshals Service had no knowledge of the allegations that a member of the president’s family has a financial interest in CertiPath, nor about the complaint to the inspector general.

The NMR complaint is about a separate issue and “has nothing to do with the president or his relationships,” Wade said.