A second city of Atlanta employee linked to questionable Paycheck Protection Program loans has left the city.
Gerald Alexander resigned from his job with the city of Atlanta last month, shortly after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution started investigating the pandemic relief loans to companies linked to Alexander and his ex-wife, Cotena Alexander.
Cotena Alexander, a former deputy commissioner in the city’s transportation office who was named in Mitzi Bickers’ federal trial as participating in a bribery scheme, was fired April 29th. She has not been charged, but federal prosecutors say she accepted tens of thousands of dollars to steer snow removal work to a contractor in 2014.
For the past several weeks, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigated questions about nearly $99,000 in federal Paycheck Protection Program loans obtained through a business registered in Gerald Alexander’s name with Cotena Alexander’s home address. Gerald Alexander had not listed the business on his financial disclosure forms with the city. The couple divorced at the end of 2020.
The AJC published a story Wednesday about the questionable loans.
Gerald Alexander resigned from the city on April 16.
“I appreciate the opportunity for the past 11 years and wish the staff and team much continued success,” Gerald Alexander wrote in his resignation email.
Alexander’s business, a long-distance freight-hauling company called Alexander Logistic Services LLC, formed in 2019. However, there is nothing in federal or state public records showing it has ever operated as an authorized motor carrier, the AJC investigation found.
Cotena Alexander listed the company as an outside source of income in her 2020 financial disclosure filed with the city. Gerald Alexander did not list the company on his disclosure.
An AJC reporter asked Dickens about the Alexanders during an April 14 editorial board meeting. Gerald Alexander resigned two days later. A city spokesman said Alexander was a project manager who makes about $70,000 a year.
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