BUSTED

Aides to Texas County Judge Indicted in $11M Vaccine Contract Scandal

Investigators are exploring whether the staffers worked to ensure an inexperienced firm was awarded a massive contract.

Three staffers in a prominent Harris County judge’s inner circle have been handed felony indictments over their alleged involvement in a botched $11 million COVID-19 vaccine outreach contract deal, according to court records. The trio indicted are Judge Lina Hidalgo’s current chief of staff, Alex Triantaphyllis, and policy director, Wallis Nader, as well as former senior adviser Aaron Dunn. All three are charged with misuse of official information and tampering with a government record. Hidalgo, a progressive Democrat, had previously championed the communication deal. Her three aides, part of a selection committee tasked with finding an appropriate vendor for the contract, awarded it to a small political consulting firm called Elevate Strategies. The deal was later hamstrung and finally terminated over the firm’s perceived inexperience with public health outreach and its founder’s reported ties to Democratic campaigns. Hidalgo agreed to cancel the deal last September, challenging investigators to “[b]ring it on because there is nothing to see here,” according to FOX 26 Houston. Texas Rangers are now focused on whether her staffers helped Elevate Strategies design its winning bid proposal.