"That sounds, on its face, as if it's counterfeit," County Commissioner Jeff Rader said. "That's like a $100 bill, with Benjamin Franklin upside down."
Rader is referring to an invalid legal document that paved the way for a DeKalb official to win a million-dollar county contract, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Channel 2 Action News has found.
Vaughn Irons, chairman of the DeKalb County Development Authority and CEO of Atlanta-based APD Solutions, was only able to bid on a federally funded program to rehab foreclosed properties after the mysterious appearance of an opinion by the county's ethics board.
The contract total eventually grew to $1.5 million, even though Iron's company had previously been ruled ineligible: county officials said he could not be both a member of the government and a government employee at the same time.
Then a legal opinion in his favor showed up in the purchasing department.
Click here to see the complete investigation, including the board's document in full.
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