Today is the deadline for the city of Atlanta to provide a federal grand jury with the latest batch of records related to an ongoing probe of fraud involving municipal contracts.
That demand indicates federal investigators may be moving into an inquiry of potential conflicts of interest involving some of the city’s largest contracts, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis shows.
An 11-point-federal subpoena seeks documents since Jan. 1, 2014, showing the city’s former top purchasing officer certified to City Council that companies that won contracts of $1 million or more disclosed personal and financial relationships with city officials and their family members and “that the award of the contract is appropriate.” The subpoena, delivered to the city Feb. 21, also demands all “written determinations” of conflicts by Smith since 2014.
In serving the subpoena, federal officials also seized Chief Procurement Officer Adam Smith's city-issued computer and smart phone. Smith was fired by the city the same day.
It is unclear if federal prosecutors consider Smith a target, a witness, or both. But they requested a bevy of other information about the long-time purchasing chief, including: his financial disclosures; all emails sent or received during the past three years; ethics policies drafted or approved by Smith; all requests for approval of outside employment; and forensic images of the hard drives on his work computer and cell phone. The federal subpoena was the third known demand for documents sent by prosecutors to the city so far. The probe came to light in January when longtime Atlanta contractor Elvin "E.R." Mitchell Jr. was charged and pleaded guilty in a cash-for-contracts scheme. A second contractor pleaded guilty the following month.
On the subscriber website, MyAJC.com, reporters examined the subpoena for clues to what the feds are seeking from the city and where the probe may go next.
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