ATLANTA — Former federal prosecutor Scott Hulsey says the litigation is far from over regarding the Atlanta bribery scandal.
“There could be other loose ends that are still out there from earlier parts of this investigation,” Husley said.
Husley, who is now in private practice working as a Partner with Scoot Hulsey Barnes & Thornburg, worked as a federal prosecutor for 10 years. He says this investigation is one of the most unique he’s seen.
“It’s not all one part of some big organizational conspiracy,” he said.
Since 2017, federal prosecutors have been combing through millions of documents related to conspiracy, bribery and tax-related crimes.
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Channel 2 Action News has reported that at least seven former city employees and two businessmen were either convicted or pled guilty for their role in either accepting or issuing bribes.
“People are taking money off the top, in order to get business or give out business,” Hulsey said.
This month a federal judge postponed the trial against former Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard who was charged in an eight-count indictment in 2020.
According to the indictment, Beard faces eight charges including wire fraud, theft from the government, possession of machine guns, making a false statement and obstructing federal tax laws.
“Jim Beard allegedly abused his position as one of the most powerful executives in the City of Atlanta to commit federal crimes for his own gain, including stealing tens of thousands of dollars of the public’s money, possessing machine guns that members of the public cannot have, and obstructing an IRS audit,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.
He served as CFO from Nov. 2011 to May 2018.
The U.S. Attorney’s office states Beard “devised and executed a scheme to defraud to obtain money and property from the city of Atlanta for private use.”
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He’s accused of using city money to pay for personal travel for himself and family, to buy items for personal use, including two machine guns, to pay for travel to conferences in which Beard was reimbursed but did not give that reimbursement to the city and to pay for travel that Beard reported to the IRS as personal consulting work.
Hulsey says there is a five-year statute of limitations for most federal charges when considering filing any new charges.
“Fast forward two or three years and they’re still doing the same sort of thing and that can extend out the statute of limitations,” he said.
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Earlier this month, former federal contractor Jeff Jafari was sentenced to serve five years in prison and three years of supervised release earlier this month.
Jafari admitted to paying bribes to Atlanta city officials and a former DeKalb county official in a pay-to-play scandal investigated by Channel 2 Action News for years.
The contracts for construction were awarded to his former engineering firm, PRAD Group, Inc., where he was the Executive Vice President.
Federal prosecutors said Jafari made tens of thousands of dollars by bribing high-ranking government officials and never paying taxes on the millions he earned after.
Jafari was indicted in 2019, charged via a 50-count indictment.
Beard’s trial has been postponed to February 2024. Channel 2 Action News reached out to Beard’s attorney he has not responded.
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