Former contractor pleads guilty to bribing city officials in city hall scandal

ATLANTA — A former contractor has pleaded guilty to bribing Atlanta city officials to get millions of dollars in business.

He also admitted to paying bribes to a former DeKalb County official.

Channel 2 Action News has been investigating the pay-to-play scandal for years.

The federal prosecutor said Jeff Jafari made tens of thousands of dollars in bribe payments to high-ranking government officials and never paid a dime of tax on the millions he earned in return.

Federal investigators said Jafari was consumed by greed, raking in millions in illegally gained city contracts.

The well-connected former contractor pleaded guilty Wednesday to paying bribes to two City of Atlanta officials.

He pleaded guilty as well to paying bribes to a former DeKalb County official.

The plea stems from a 51-count indictment against Jafari in 2019.

Now-former U.S. Attorney BJ Pak headed up the case.

RELATED STORIES:

• Contractors in City Hall bribery scandal sentenced
• Central figure of City Hall corruption probe heads to trial for steering millions in contracts
• Bickers trial raises new questions about women’s involvement on City Hall corruption scandal

“Jafari engaged in bribing not just officials with the City of Atlanta, but his conducted extended into another county,” Pak said at the time.

Prosecutors said Jafari gave tens of thousands in cash and other items of value to Adam Smith, Atlanta’s top purchasing official at the time, as well as Jo Ann Macrina, who served as the city’s commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management.

Macrina vowed to do her best and be held accountable when she was hired in 2011.

“I will have a bit of a learning curve, but I do have a very strong technical background I have been working in water resources for almost 25 years,” Macrina said.

In February, Macrina was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for accepting bribes.

Smith also served prison time after pleading guilty in 2017 to accepting bribes in the influence-peddling scheme.

Jafari pleaded guilty to two counts of bribery and one count of tax evasion.

The 72-year-old is out on bond and faces sentencing in July.

RELATED NEWS:

Subpoena names second contractor under investigation in city hall bribery scandal hannel 2 Action News has learned C. P. Richards Construction received nearly $10 million in city of Atlanta payments for construction work between 2009 and 2014.

©2023 Cox Media Group