The 14 jurors straightened in their seats as they heard the name of the next witness.
It was Day 14 of the bribery and fraud trial against former Houston Independent School District Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby and ex-district vendor Anthony Hutchison. And defense attorney Dick DeGuerin was calling his first witness: Busby himself.
Putting a defendant on the stand is always a gamble. It opens the door to cross-examination and carries considerable risk in a high-profile case. But Busby appeared composed and confident as he took the stand.
On Friday, the fifteenth day of the expansive federal trial, Busby firmly denied allegations that he pressured HISD employees to direct contracts toward Hutchison’s companies for landscaping and maintenance services. He also rejected claims that he instructed a district official to encourage subordinates to give Hutchison’s firm a favorable score on a 2017 maintenance and repair contract.
Busby did admit to handing $10,000 in cash to former HISD Board President Rhonda Skillern-Jones on Hutchison’s behalf, but he insisted that the money was meant for gift cards to help Hurricane Harvey victims, not in exchange for district-related favors. He denied ever delivering the money in a Walmart parking lot, despite earlier testimony by Skillern-Jones that she met him there twice and received a total of $17,000.
“I don’t know which Walmart it was, and no,” Busby said when pressed.
His testimony stood in sharp contrast to three weeks of accounts from 30 prosecution witnesses. The denials were especially striking given that Skillern-Jones, along with four other former HISD employees, have pleaded guilty in connection with the case.
Over roughly ten hours of testimony spanning a day and a half, Busby detailed his rise through the ranks of the state’s largest school district — from working as a custodian to becoming its chief operating officer. He also described the federal raid on his Cypress-area home in February 2020, saying his children were terrified during the search.
Busby and Hutchison, a former NFL running back, are accused of conspiring to defraud the district of millions through bribery, wire fraud, tax fraud, and witness tampering.
On the stand, Busby did not downplay his friendship with Hutchison, describing their bond as one of “brotherly love.” He acknowledged they frequently traveled together to gamble in Las Vegas and Louisiana but suggested the scrutiny surrounding their relationship had been excessive.
“I guess I had too much in some people’s eyes. I can’t control that,” he said.
Prosecutors allege that Hutchison secured HISD contracts for landscaping, construction, and maintenance by bribing Busby and other district insiders, including Skillern-Jones. Last month, she testified that Busby paid her twice — in 2016 and again in 2017.
Busby, however, maintained he only paid her once. Dressed in a gray pinstripe suit and a patterned blue tie, he told jurors he delivered the $10,000 to Skillern-Jones at her office in the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center, not in a Walmart parking lot as she claimed.
According to Busby, the exchange followed a late-night poker game with Hutchison. During the game, Skillern-Jones allegedly called Hutchison to ask about a promised donation for Harvey relief gift cards. Although they had agreed on a $20,000 donation, Busby said Hutchison only had $10,000 that night. Since Skillern-Jones couldn’t meet in person, Busby said he offered to deliver the cash the following morning.
DeGuerin attempted to introduce into evidence what he described as a “receipt” for the transaction — an index card supposedly given to Busby by Hutchison. However, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen deemed the evidence inadmissible after prosecutors argued that Busby couldn’t authenticate the document since it had never been in his possession.
Routine cash or kickback scheme?
On the morning of February 27, 2020, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service descended on the home Busby shared with his then-wife and three children. He said he was still in bed when the doorbell rang, followed by loud banging at the front door. At first, Busby wasn’t sure if the noise was coming from his house — until he checked the security camera feed and saw agents outside.
“FBI, open the door,” Busby recalled them shouting.
After letting the agents inside, Busby said they immediately separated him from his wife and children, a moment he described as terrifying. His children, he said, were screaming and crying as agents led them upstairs, away from him.
According to testimony from IRS Criminal Investigations Special Agent Jason Webb, separating family members during a search is standard protocol, intended to ensure all occupants are accounted for and the scene is secure. Busby said the agents entered with their guns drawn, a detail Webb did not dispute. He also acknowledged having multiple firearms in the home, including 9mm pistols in both his and his wife’s vehicles, as well as several unloaded guns stored in a safe.
Authorities found $90,150 in cash inside the home and seized it. They allege the money was tied to an illegal kickback scheme in which Hutchison paid Busby for favorable treatment.
To support that claim, federal investigators examined 18 bank accounts that they assert Busby had access to. They identified nearly 800 cash deposits amounting to around $3 million between 2015 and 2020, including approximately $778,000 in 2018 and $700,000 in 2019.
Prosecutors say many deposits were made on the same day and were just below $10,000, a pattern they contend was intended to evade federal reporting requirements for transactions above that quantity.
From the beginning, DeGuerin has insisted that the cash Busby deposited or kept on hand came from legitimate sources: gambling winnings, rental income, and money Busby received from his mother to help with her care. (Though not his biological mother, Busby testified that his grandmother’s first cousin raised him from the time he was five days old, after his mother gave birth at age 14.)
Busby told jurors that just four days before the search, he had won $60,000 gambling in Las Vegas, following an earlier trip where he won $38,000. He said he used part of the money to pay overdue invoices for remodeling work from Hutchison, covered other bills, and stored the rest in the safe.
He also testified that he once owned up to five rental properties and was frequently paid in cash. In 2011, Busby said, he took over managing the finances of his now 86-year-old mother, who distrusted banks. He said he periodically withdrew money from her account to prevent her from overspending and that he inherited a black trunk with a gold-colored lock, which she had used to store cash over the years.
When he took control of the trunk, Busby said it contained $224,000 in cash. In the following years, he deposited some of the money into his own accounts and used or kept the remainder. He also testified that, as a Black man, he had been taught to be cautious with banks.
“You never put all your money in the bank, especially as a Black man,” he told jurors.
Neither DeGuerin nor Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Johnson asked Busby how much money remained in his mother’s account when he assumed control.
Busby also testified that he and his wife owned a day care in Kashmere Gardens, where much of the business was conducted in cash. He estimated that his wife collected between $1,200 and $4,000 weekly, making multiple cash deposits each week as part of the routine operation.
“The spreadsheet reflects that,” he said, referring to the government’s financial records presented as evidence.
From hourly employee to COO
A native of Beaumont, Texas, Busby testified that he started working for HISD at the age of 19 as an hourly employee, earning $3.75 an hour. His responsibilities included custodial work, payroll, and accounting tasks.
One afternoon, while sitting under a tree and eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Busby said that the then-HISD Chief Financial Officer, Melinda Garrett, approached him. They started a conversation, and shortly thereafter, Garrett moved him into the payroll department, where he became a payroll clerk. He later transferred to the district’s facilities and maintenance operations department, continuing his ascent through the HISD ranks.
“I think it was God,” Busby said when asked by DeGuerin what he thought made Garrett single him out. “I didn’t know her, and I tried to stay away from people at her level.”
Although it took 13 years, Busby ultimately earned a bachelor’s degree in business, followed by an executive master’s in business administration from the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston — a program that included international travel to Singapore. He continued to ascend the ranks at HISD, becoming head of the facilities and maintenance operations department and later chief operating officer in 2017.
Busby, 46, testified that he met Hutchison and his wife at a parent-teacher event in 2009. Over the years, the two men developed a friendship. Busby said they shared common ground: both were raised by relatives instead of their biological parents, and both considered themselves self-made Black men.
While on the stand, Busby tended to go off script or provide lengthy answers to questions posed by DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin, Hutchison’s attorney.
“Five years of pain,” he said when asked how long he’s been waiting to tell his story.
‘Totally untrue:’ Busby issues denial after denial
On Friday, Johnson pressed Busby during two hours of pointed cross-examination. Question after question was met with a firm denial, and at times, Busby’s tone grew sharp.
Had Hutchison ever given him money outside the context of a sports bet and asked him to do something in return at HISD?
“No, he never had to,” Busby replied, insisting Hutchison’s companies — Southwest Wholesale and Just Construction — were already well-established and did not need his intervention to secure work.
Had he ever instructed Derrick Sanders from the construction department to hire Hutchison’s firms or to carve out landscaping portions of construction projects for them?
“Everything he told you was incorrect,” Busby said. “Totally untrue.”
Johnson then asked about a 2017 trip to Las Vegas, during which Sanders testified that he left Hutchison’s hotel bedroom with $10,000 in cash and claimed Busby said “next” before entering the room himself.
“Mr. Sanders had something to gain by telling you that,” Busby responded.
Johnson moved on to allegations concerning Alfred Hoskins, the now-former general manager of facilities, maintenance, and operations. Did he instruct Hoskins to tell Luis Tovar and Gerron Hall to give Just Construction a favorable score on a 2017 HISD contract? Did he meet Hoskins for lunch after Hoskins agreed to do so?
“We didn’t have lunch. Alfred didn’t eat lunch. In his life,” Busby said dismissively.
Finally, Johnson asked Busby if he had called Hoskins on the night of the 2020 federal raid and instructed him to notify Tovar, Hall, and a third individual that he had played no part in awarding the 2017 annual vendor contract.
“I was separated from my family that day,” Busby said. “Alfred was the farthest from my mind.”
Johnson is expected to resume his cross-examination of Busby on Monday, marking the start of the trial’s fourth week.
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