Bribery figure paid $1.6 million to former City Hall operative
Contractor Elvin "E.R." Mitchell Jr., who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery at Atlanta City Hall, paid more than $1.6 million in checks or wire transfers to Rev. Mitzi Bickers' companies during the time frame of the bribery scandal, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution review of Mitchell's bank records has found.
Bickers, who worked for Mayor Kasim Reed for three years after working as his political consultant in 2009, has not been charged in the case. But at least one transaction — a $110,000 wire transfer on April 1, 2014 — matches the amount and date of a bribe paid by Mitchell, according to his guilty plea. Two checks written to Bickers said they were for "Govt Relations" in the memo line.
Federal prosecutors have never named the person to whom the bribe payments were made. To read the full story, go to myAJC.com.
About the Authors
Dan Klepal is editor of the local government team, supervising nine reporters covering county and municipal governments and metro Atlanta. Klepal came to the AJC in 2012, after a long career covering city halls in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. He has covered Gwinnett and Cobb counties before spending three years on the investigative team.
