The New York Times
Postal Service Has Paid DeJoy’s Former Company $286 Million Since 2013
Documents obtained through a public records request showed the degree to which XPO Logistics, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s former employer, is intertwined with the agency he now oversees.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has come under scrutiny for his continued financial ties to XPO, a $16 billion logistics firm.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has come under scrutiny for his continued financial ties to XPO, a $16 billion logistics firm.Credit...Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
By Luke Broadwater and Catie Edmondson
Published Sept. 2, 2020Updated June 3, 2021
WASHINGTON — The United States Postal Service has paid about $286 million over the past seven years to XPO Logistics, the former employer of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. He still holds at least a $30 million stake in the company, which has ramped up its business with the Postal Service since he took the helm at the agency.
The figures, obtained by The New York Times from a public records request, shed new light on the extent to which the company where Mr. DeJoy was a top executive — and in which he still has a substantial amount of money invested — is intertwined with the agency he now runs, fueling questions about a potential conflict of interest. They emerged on the same day that the House Oversight Committee issued a promised subpoena for documents that the panel has said Mr. DeJoy is withholding from Congress, including information about his personal financial affairs.
Through about 100 contracts with XPO Logistics and its subsidiaries, the Postal Service has paid the firm $33.7 million to $45.2 million annually since 2014 for services that include managing transportation and providing support during peak times.
The documents also show a surge in revenue for XPO from the Postal Service since Mr. DeJoy took over on June 15. The Postal Service paid XPO Logistics and its subsidiaries about $14 million over the past 10 weeks, compared with $3.4 million during the same time frame in 2019 and $4.7 million in 2018.
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A spokesman for XPO attributed the uptick to the expansion of a contract with the Postal Service that was amended in December, months before Mr. DeJoy was selected to lead the agency.
David Partenheimer, a spokesman for the Postal Service, said that Mr. DeJoy had no involvement in contracting decisions and had recused himself from any involvement in dealings with his former company.
“The postmaster general correctly stated that he has ‘nothing to do with’ XPO’s contracts with the Postal Service,” Mr. Partenheimer said in an email. “The contracting officers making contracting decisions about work with XPO are many levels below the C.E.O. on the organization chart.”
Mr. DeJoy, he added, was “prohibited by the government ethics rules from any involvement with XPO’s U.S.P.S. contracts.”
Mr. DeJoy has come under scrutiny for his continued financial ties to XPO, a $16 billion logistics firm. He served as the chief executive of the company’s supply chain business until 2015 and was a board member until 2018. He continues to hold $30 million to $75 million in the company, and received $1.86 million in rent last year from XPO through a leasing agreement he brokered while still at the firm.
