Technology, Receipts, & Target Letters

Last summer, several government employees received target letters. The revelation shed light on developing federal probes in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Disclosure: In March 2019, Governor Albert Bryan hired Amaziah George to work on his communications team. From March to September of that year, he organized or partially wrote drafts for some press conferences and press releases referenced in this article. His salary was $50,000.

At a press conference in 2019 near the beginning of his first term, Governor Albert Bryan, alongside the attorney general he nominated, made an important announcement: the reopening of the department’s White Collar Crime and Corruption Unit. His administration laid out an agenda designed to tackle corruption and rebuild trust with the public.

Open Finance

Weeks later, the Office of Management and Budget’s Director Nominee Jenifer O’Neal in collaboration with the Bureau of Information Technology and the Department of Finance, announced the launch of an official government transparency website, transparency.vi.gov. The territory's transparency website, the first of its kind, offers a glimpse into the fiscal affairs of the executive branch. In 2025, the web domain retains information for each fiscal year and includes links to agencies within the Virgin Islands Government.

According to Government House, the financial database includes the following:

• The appropriations, expenditures, or use of all public funds and receipt of all federal and public funds;

• Annual government expenditures or funding actions provided to any entity, recipient or agency;

• Local aid to each department;

• Annual revenues

• Payroll (Included after 2019)

Officially designated as Open Finance, the website, now five years old, is an initiative Government House says is “part of our commitment to improving transparency by providing a guided view through complex financial information.” Open Finance contains a comprehensive database of revenues and expenditures of the territory’s funds. It is accessible to the public in accordance with Title 3, Chapter 33, Section 881a of the Virgin Islands Code.

Last summer, several government employees received target letters. The revelation shed light on developing federal probes in the territory. In June, Jenifer O'Neal resigned as Director of the Office of Management and Budget after receiving a target letter from federal investigators.

Federal prosecutors also charged Sports, Parks, and Recreation Commissioner Calvert White with wire fraud and bribery, according to court records unsealed earlier this year. A Department of Justice press release states, “White, 49, of St. Thomas, solicited and accepted a bribe from a then-government contractor, David Whitaker, through Hendricks, 62, also of St. Thomas, who acted as an intermediary. The indictment alleges that the scheme began in at least December 2023 and continued until June 2024. In exchange for the bribe paid by Whitaker, White allegedly agreed to assist Whitaker in obtaining a $1.43 million contract with SP&R.”

Bryan accepted White’s resignation in early January.

On the same day, former V.I. Police Commissioner Ray Martinez and former Office of Management and Budget Director Jenifer O’Neal appeared in court and entered not-guilty pleas to charges in a separate bribery investigation.

Bryan’s 2018 Anti-Corruption Campaign

As a candidate in 2018, Bryan launched an anti-corruption campaign aimed at the Mapp-Potter administration. Bryan tapped then-Senator Tregenza Roach as his running mate. The pair secured the Democratic nomination and defeated Governor Kenneth Mapp at the polls.

On the campaign trail in 2018, Bryan’s campaign purchased hundreds of issues of the Virgin Islands Daily News and gave the newspapers to the public for free. The complimentary newspapers often came on news days when the Mapp administration made the front page.

Although his campaign never officially embraced a strategy highlighting anti-corruption and fiscal accountability, Bryan’s first run for the territory’s highest office resembled an opposition, anti-corruption campaign. Anti-corruption comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption.

Months into his first term, Bryan and members of his cabinet launched Open Finance, the territory’s first transparency website built to track executive branch expenditures.

In 2020, during his second State of the Territory Address, he said, “We must be serious about weeding out corruption and the perception of corruption from our government and safeguarding our taxpayer dollars. Restoring the public’s trust is more than just committing to transparency and accountability; it is also about providing the services the public deserves — the services that ensure the safety and security of our residents, especially the most vulnerable among us.”

Now serving his second term as governor, Bryan often talks about fiscal responsibility and improving government services.

At the start of 2025, Government House said it was working to address cash flow issues. “I want to reassure everyone that there is absolutely no reason for alarm,” Bryan said. Adding that his administration is working in close collaboration with the 35th Legislature to pay vendors.