Records show Postal Service paid millions to DeJoy’s former company

The U.S. Postal Service has made millions of dollars in payments to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s former company in recent weeks, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

A spokesman for the company, XPO Logistics, pointed out to The Hill that the payments were part of a contract signed last December, before DeJoy was named postmaster general in June, but the records will likely increase questions surrounding changes DeJoy has made to the organization.  

A public records request from the Times determined that the Postal Service has paid XPO and its subsidiaries about $14 million in the past 10 weeks. The Postal Service had paid $3.4 million during the same period in 2019 and $4.7 million during the same period in 2018. 

Since 2013, the Postal Service has compensated DeJoy’s former company and its subsidies between $33.7 million to $45.2 million each year for managing transportation and providing support during peak times, records show.

The postmaster general continues to have a stake in XPO worth between $30 million and $75 million and was given $1.86 million in rent last year through a leasing agreement that he made while still at the company, according to the Times.

Several Democrats have criticized DeJoy for his ongoing financial ties to the company, where he served as the chief executive of the supply chain business and was a board member until 2018. 

David Partenheimer, a spokesperson for the Postal Service, said in a statement to The Hill that DeJoy does not participate in the contracting decisions and has recused himself from making decisions about XPO to follow government ethics rules.

“The Postmaster General correctly stated that he has ‘nothing to do with’ XPO’s contracts with the Postal Service,” Partenheimer said. “The contracting officers making contracting decisions about work with XPO are many levels below the CEO on the organization chart.”

Partenheimer continued, saying XPO’s contracts “represent a very small part of the Postal Service’s business,” adding the company was “not one of our top 50 contractors last year or this year.” The total spending with suppliers is $12 billion compared to the less than $50 million paid to XPO this year. 

XPO emphasized in a company statement that the Postal Service is “a customer, not a competitor.”

The New York Times report was released the same day the House Oversight and Reform Committee subpoenaed DeJoy for documents related to Postal Service reforms and about his personal financial affairs. 

DeJoy testified in front of the House last month about the reforms that Democrats claim are slowing down mail delivery.  

“I have a significant investment in XPO Logistics, which I vetted before with the ethics department of the Postal Service, and I was given specific types of guidelines that I needed to adhere to,” he said. “It’s a very, very small part of the Postal Service business I have nothing to do with.”