HOUSTON – What is the future of the criminal cases involving the three former high ranking officials inside of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s inner circle?
It’s a question many have asked since the indictments of Alex Triantaphyllis, Wallis Nader and Aaron Dunn in the spring of 2022. Triantaphyllis was Hidalgo’s former Chief of Staff, while Nader was her Policy Director and Dunn was a Senior Advisor, all were criminally indicted by a Harris County grand jury in connection to steering an $11 million Covid outreach contract to a company called, Elevate Strategies.
3 Hidalgo staffers indicted in $11M COVID-19 outreach contract investigation appear in court:
Prior to the indictments Judge Hidalgo admitted to KPRC 2 Investigates, “We all worked on it together,” regarding the build out of the contract that Elevate Strategies ultimately. However, while Hidalgo maintained, “I can speak for myself, everything I’ve done related to this has been completely above board,” she did admit weeks later that she believed she was going to get indicted at some point by a Harris County grand jury.
Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo addresses Texas Rangers investigation into COVID outreach contract
The cases of Triantaphyllis, Nader and Dunn have been moving slowly through the Harris County judicial system due to various hearing resets, primarily by defense teams according to Harris County legal records.
Since the endorsement of Teare by Hidalgo, questions have been raised regarding the future of these cases as Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and her opponent, Sean Teare, are prepared to square off in the democratic primary in a few weeks.
KPRC 2 Investigates recently spoke with the two candidates about the appearance of “quid pro quo” as some have called it regarding Hidalgo’s endorsement, “Judge Hidalgo’s three staff members are indicted. My opponent works for the defense team representing the lead Chief of Staff defendant. His position is a conflict of interest should he become the nominee for DA and win. It would be incumbent upon him to recuse himself,” said Ogg.
Minutes after Ogg spoke with KPRC 2 Investigates, Teare weighed-in, “So the very first thing that I am going to do is what my opponent should do today, which is if that case is still pending three years after the indictments, if it’s still pending – I’d be shocked if it is, but if it’s still pending we are going to ask an independent prosecutor in Fort Bend, in Montgomery or Galveston to look at it,” said Teare.
KPRC 2 Investigates then asked Teare to confirm again that if he becomes District Attorney he will immediately kick the criminal cases involving Hidalgo’s staffers to another county in Texas. “Absolutely,” said Teare who without hesitation went on to add, “I have no dog in this fight.”
Teare also claimed Ogg was the one who had a conflict of interest with the hiring of an attorney who had deep ties to the Republican Party in Texas in the Hidalgo case.
As for Ogg’s claims of a conflict? Teare does not believe he has one with his firm.
The bottom line, the cases that have resulted in indictments by a Harris County grand jury after being investigated by Texas Rangers are still moving forward in Harris County with the next setting set for May 13 according to the District Clerk’s Office.