{"id":11578567,"date":"2025-07-25T10:27:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T14:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/?p=11578567"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:16:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:16:22","slug":"consultant-census-bureau-bribery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/07\/25\/consultant-census-bureau-bribery\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard County consultant charged with bribery in alleged Census Bureau kickback scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors have charged a Columbia-based consultant with bribery following allegations that she conspired with Census Bureau officials as part of a “corrupt and fraudulent” kickback scheme.<\/p>\n

Yolanda M. Jones is accused of using her company, YMJ Counseling and Consulting, to make fraudulent payments to her associates and a Census Bureau employee who steered the procurement contracts to benefit YMJ.<\/p>\n

Jones and her firm did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the consulting service, which was incorporated in 2020, was a subcontractor affiliated with the Census Bureau’s Employee Assistance Program.<\/p>\n

Court records say that the consulting firm received over $2.5 million from the subcontracting deal<\/strong>, and accuse Jones, 64, of sending nearly a third of that money back to the Census Bureau employee supervising the assistance program.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say that the employee, who is not identified in court records, had recommended YMJ as a subcontractor under false pretenses \u2014 they said that the firm had done previous good work for the Census Bureau; in reality, the firm had not even been incorporated yet.<\/p>\n

Once YMJ was signed on as a subcontractor, the Census Bureau supervisor and Jones began reaching out to college friends and offering them work as independent contractors, sharing documentation of the work needed.<\/p>\n

“Oh the last thing \u2014 don’t act like you know me,” the supervisor wrote from their personal email address, according to charging documents. “I’m trying to be as by the book with this as possible.”<\/p>\n

The friends met on Zoom to discuss the “EAP opportunity,” according to court filings. YMJ also entered a partnership with another firm, which was run by the supervisor, who worked at the Census Bureau, to expedite the procurement process, prosecutors wrote.<\/p>\n

The Census Bureau did not immediately return a request for comment. Jones did not have a defense attorney listed in court records and did not have a scheduled court date.<\/p>\n

Have a news tip? Contact Dan Belson at\u00a0dbelson@baltsun.com, on X as @DanBelson_\u00a0or on Signal as @danbels.62.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal prosecutors charged a Columbia-based consultant with bribery on allegations that she conspired with Census Bureau officials as part of a “corrupt and fraudulent” procurement scheme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":11156109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-07-25T17:31:01Z","apple_news_api_id":"97b09651-94be-4207-ab8b-cc3e0d2be49a","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-07-25T20:16:25Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/Al7CWUZS-Qgeri8w-DSvkmg","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[86,83,84,85],"tags":[24457],"feature":[],"location":[344,342,223],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[413],"class_list":["post-11578567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-public-safety","category-latest-headlines","category-local-news","category-news","tag-social","location-columbia","location-howard-county","location-maryland"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"84","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":{"deck_headline":"","print_title":"Howard County consultant charged with bribery in alleged Census Bureau kickback scheme","print_subheadline":"","print_priority":"","print_placement":"cover","print_planned_ready":"","print_pub_date":"","print_slug":"tbs-l-consultant-0725","print_budget_line":"","print_excerpt":"Federal prosecutors charged a Columbia-based consultant with bribery on allegations that she conspired with Census Bureau officials as part of a \"corrupt and fraudulent\" procurement scheme.","print_notes":"","photo_limits":"Photo limits are: 1 featured image, 5 featured gallery images, 5 embedded gallery images and 5 in-article embedded images. Articles that exceed these limits will not export. Please adjust images to reflect these limits.","print_featured_gallery_richtext":"","print_inline_galleries_richtext":"","print_inline_images_richtext":"","print_content":"

Federal prosecutors have charged a Columbia-based consultant with bribery following allegations that she conspired with Census Bureau officials as part of a \"corrupt and fraudulent\" kickback scheme.<\/p>

Yolanda M. Jones is accused of using her company, YMJ Counseling and Consulting, to make fraudulent payments to her associates and a Census Bureau employee who steered the procurement contracts to benefit YMJ.<\/p>

Jones and her firm did not immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>

Prosecutors said the consulting service, which was incorporated in 2020, was a subcontractor affiliated with the Census Bureau's Employee Assistance Program.<\/p>

Court records say that the consulting firm received over $2.5 million from the subcontracting deal, and accuse Jones, 64, of sending nearly a third of that money back to the Census Bureau employee supervising the assistance program.<\/p>

Prosecutors say that the employee, who is not identified in court records, had recommended YMJ as a subcontractor under false pretenses \u2014 they said that the firm had done previous good work for the Census Bureau; in reality, the firm had not even been incorporated yet.<\/p>

Once YMJ was signed on as a subcontractor, the Census Bureau supervisor and Jones began reaching out to college friends and offering them work as independent contractors, sharing documentation of the work needed.<\/p>

\"Oh the last thing \u2014 don't act like you know me,\" the supervisor wrote from their personal email address, according to charging documents. \"I'm trying to be as by the book with this as possible.\"<\/p>

The friends met on Zoom to discuss the \"EAP opportunity,\" according to court filings. YMJ also entered a partnership with another firm, which was run by the supervisor, who worked at the Census Bureau, to expedite the procurement process, prosecutors wrote.<\/p>

The Census Bureau did not immediately return a request for comment. Jones did not have a defense attorney listed in court records and did not have a scheduled court date.<\/p>

Have a news tip? Contact Dan Belson at\u00a0dbelson@baltsun.com, on X as @DanBelson_\u00a0or on Signal as @danbels.62.<\/em><\/p>"},"print_workflow_exported_ts":"1753474608","print_workflow_exported_username":"Kate Cimini","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":{"print_section":"24225","print_status":"24232","add_export_buttons":"","print_endpoint":"tribune"},"really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":"","market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"premium","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":11156109,"title":"Trump_Census_Bureau_01524","filename":"Trump_Census_Bureau_01524.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Trump_Census_Bureau_01524.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/2025\/02\/14\/census-without-legal-status-impact\/trump_census_bureau_01524-2\/","alt":"","author":"13","description":"","caption":"FILE – A briefcase of a census taker is seen as she knocks on the door of a residence, Aug. 11, 2020, in Winter Park, Fla. 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