Elvin "E.R." Mitchell Jr. allegedly paid companies tied to a former Atlanta City Hall official and well-known political operative more than $500,000 in 2014 and 2015, a period under examination by federal authorities in a cash-for-contracts scandal, according to a document filed in family court in Fulton County.
Mitchell’s payments to firms tied to the Rev. Mitzi Bickers occurred after Bickers left her City Hall post as director of human services in 2013. The allegation is based on bank records obtained via subpoenas in an ongoing divorce case between Mitchell and his wife, Marjorie Mitchell.
Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed records related to Bickers from the city as well as from Clayton County, where she now works as a chaplain for Sheriff Victor Hill. Bickers played a key get-out-the-vote role in Mayor Kasim Reed’s 2009 campaign and has worked for a number of metro Atlanta candidates.
Bickers has not been charged with a crime, and an attorney for her did not respond last week to messages seeking comment. Reed’s office reiterated past statements that the city is fully cooperating with federal authorities, and said “those involved in any wrongdoing should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Subscribers get more of the story: Click here to go to MyAJC.com to read more about this latest development in the ongoing Atlanta bribery scandal.
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