The city of Atlanta’s former top purchasing official is expected to be charged Tuesday in U.S. District Court as part the long-running federal bribery investigation of City Hall, a person familiar with the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Adam Smith, the former procurement chief, is expected to be charged with a single count of conspiracy at a 3 p.m. hearing before Judge Steve Jones, the person, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, told the AJC.
Channel 2 Action News first reported the expected criminal charge.
The expected charge against Smith is the first against a high-ranking former city official -- in this case a cabinet-level position -- in the long-running criminal probe.
According to the criminal information document, from 2015 to January of this year, Smith allegedly accepted more than $30,000 in bribes from a city vendor, who was not named in the complaint.
The complaint said Smith regularly met with the vendor, described as an executive of a construction firm in Atlanta.
The complaint states that Smith met multiple times with the vendor to discuss bids, projects and future project solicitations, and that the vendor was an active participant in seeking city work.
“After most of the meetings, (the) Vendor paid Smith approximately $1,000 in cash,” the information states. It goes on to say that Smith “kenw that (the) Vendor expected Smith to use his position and power as Atlanta’s chief purchasing officer” to help the vendor with contracts and to “furnish Vendor with future benefits and favors when needed.”
Smith is being charged under what is known as a criminal information, a process suggesting Smith is cooperating with federal prosecutors. Smith would become the fourth person charged in connection to the bribery probe and the first former senior city official.
In February, federal agents entered City Hall with a subpoena seeking Smith's computer, city-issued smartphone and other material. He was fired by Mayor Kasim Reed the same day.
A terse, two-sentence statement from the mayor’s office that day said Adam Smith had been “relieved of his duties.” A spokeswoman for Reed later said Smith’s was a “normal termination,” that includes being led out of the building by city personnel.
The cash-for-contracts investigation came to light in January when contractor Elvin "E.R." Mitchell Jr. was charged and pleaded guilty to a scheme in which he paid more than $1 million in bribes to an unnamed person under the believe that some of the money would go to one or more city officials with influence over the contracting process.
A second contractor, Charles P. Richards Jr., also pleaded guilty in the probe. Both Mitchell and Richards have agreed to testify against others.
A third man, Shandarrick Barnes, a former city public works employee, was indicted in August with charges related to an act of vandalism and alleged conspiracy to keep Mitchell from cooperating.
Another former city official, the Rev. Mitzi Bickers, also has come under federal scrutiny, with prosecutors seeking records from her during her time at City Hall and in her current role as a chaplain in Clayton County for Sheriff Victor Hill.
More as this story develops…
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