Former HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby and contractor Anthony Hutchison were convicted by jury on all 33 counts in April 2025 for a nine-year bribery and overbilling scheme in which Hutchison overbilled HISD more than $6 million for landscape and construction work while paying Busby $530,000 in kickbacks and home remodeling; five co-conspirators separately pleaded guilty.

Houston Independent School District — COO Bribery and Contractor Nine-Year Overbilling Scheme (2011–2020)

Outcome: A federal jury convicted former HISD Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby and landscaping/construction contractor Anthony Hutchison on all 33 charges in April 2025 — including conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, tax fraud, and witness tampering — for a nine-year scheme in which Hutchison overbilled HISD more than $6 million while paying Busby $530,000 in personal kickbacks including home remodeling projects; five additional HISD officials separately pleaded guilty.

Houston Independent School District is Texas's largest school district, serving over 200,000 students. Beginning approximately in 2011, former Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby leveraged his procurement authority to steer HISD contracting to Anthony Hutchison's company, Southwest Wholesale LLC, which had secured an exclusive contract to mow and landscape approximately 150 HISD school campuses.

Hutchison used that exclusive position to systematically overbill HISD across years — inflating charges for landscape maintenance and, following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, for construction and repair work as well. The total overbilling exceeded $6 million. In exchange, Hutchison paid Busby $530,000 in bribes over the course of the scheme, delivered as cash and home remodeling work performed on Busby's personal residence.

Busby also pressured subordinate HISD officials to steer additional work and larger projects to Hutchison's companies. Five of those officials — including a former HISD trustee — separately pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges: Skillern-Jones, Sanders, Hoskins, Gerron Hall, and Luis Tovar.

The federal investigation became public in December 2021 when Busby and Hutchison were first indicted. A federal jury convicted both on all 33 counts after a four-week trial and six hours of deliberations in April 2025. Sentencing was scheduled before U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen for July 28, 2025, with both facing up to 20 years on the most serious counts.

Primary Source: Houston ISD official and contractor guilty in nine-year, multimillion-dollar fraud scheme | DOJ