Delayed sentencing… again? Attorneys for convicted City Council Relations Director William-Paul Thomas seeking new date | #citycouncil

HOUSTON – KPRC 2 Investigates obtained federal legal records on Wednesday afternoon showing a motion has been filed to have an upcoming federal sentencing date of William-Paul Thomas continued.

Mayor Sylvester Turner’s former friend and Director of City Council Relation was scheduled to be sentenced on December 18th after being convicted for conspiracy tied to cash bribes over a year ago. In the summer of 2022, Thomas admitted guilt in Houston federal court without ever being indicted or directly charged. Experts telling KPRC 2 Investigates the time, the federal case must have been overwhelming for Thomas to not put up a fight.

The federally appointed attorney for Thomas, Monique Sparks, filed the paperwork on Wednesday to have his sentencing delayed. It has yet to be approved by Judge Andrew Hanen. However, one former federal prosecutor tells KPRC 2 Investigates this is simply a formality and to expect a new date to be posted soon. The move would not be out of the norm, as there already have been previous examples of similar requests made and granted during the preparations to sentence Thomas.

This latest motion, if granted by Judge Hanen, will be the seventh time that Thomas will be provided with a sentencing date.

This potential also comes less than a month after KPRC 2 Investigates exposed a “Porsche Partnership” between Thomas and former airport concessionaire Jason Yoo. The two men purchased a convertible Porsche together in April 2018 during a period when Yoo was asking Thomas to assist him in getting hundreds of thousands in airport fines dismissed. It is unclear if our bombshell investigation had any impact in this latest delay, but the investigation did catch many Houstonians by surprise.

This latest motion also comes less than two months after Thomas was no longer on the hook for paying his attorney fees. As the court officially made Monique Sparks his federally appointed public defender. KPRC 2 Investigates caught up with Thomas getting into a different convertible Porsche minutes after he learned he no longer would have to pay his attorney back in mid-October.