Seven former city of Atlanta employees are suing the city and Atlanta’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). They allege the OIG unlawfully obtained and exposed their personal bank records during internal investigations conducted between 2022 and 2024.
The lawsuits were brought by Rita Braswell, Charlie Helton, Christopher Helton, Carla Lipscomb, Commodus Morgan, Duvwon Robinson, and Eugene Williams on Jan. 28 in Fulton County Superior Court.
Each plaintiff is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, based on claims of invasion of privacy, negligence, emotional distress, and violations of Georgia banking law. In a March 2025 demand notice to the city, the plaintiffs each asked for $5 million in compensatory damages.
Between 2022 and 2024, former Inspector General Shannon Manigault’s office issued dozens of subpoenas to financial institutions for the personal banking records of people under investigation. The subpoenas asked the banks not to notify the account holders in order not to impede the investigations. However, that notice is required under Georgia law.
In their lawsuits, the plaintiffs cite public statements by city officials acknowledging the subpoenas were improper. Then-City Attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker publicly issued a cease-and-desist letter to the OIG on Feb. 3, 2025, instructing it to stop asking banks not to notify account holders. The city issued a press release the same day, saying the OIG had issued “at least 50” subpoenas that violated state banking law — and that, going forward, the OIG would notify account holders before issuing such subpoenas.
The same day, Manigault publicly admitted the error, saying the subpoenas were issued “in good faith.” She added that her office was unaware of the statewide notice requirement until alerted by the city on Jan. 30, 2025, when it immediately updated its policies.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Michael Sterling, told Atlanta Civic Circle that his clients only learned their bank records had been subpoenaed after their names and financial information appeared publicly. “The harm is the invasion of privacy. It’s the reputational harm to individuals whose records were subpoenaed without notice — and they became subjects of [news] articles that still come up when they do job interviews,” he said.
Sterling said he has not yet uncovered evidence that city officials knew the subpoenas were unlawful at the time they were issued. However, he added, the sheer number of times the city erred amounts at least to negligence. “We don’t have any specific evidence today,” Sterling said. “We can figure out, when we get into discovery, what was known.”
In a statement to Atlanta Civic Circle, interim Inspector General LaDawn Blackett said the OIG is compliant with subpoena procedures. “We have established internal processes and procedures to request subpoenas from municipal court as required by the [city] code. We remain committed to ensuring that all OIG investigations are thorough, fair, and conducted in a manner that respects the due process rights of all parties involved,” Blackett said. She added in the statement that the OIG would not comment further on the lawsuits while litigation is ongoing.
Atlanta City Attorney Marquetta Bryan declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
The current lawsuits are not the first stemming from the OIG’s subpoena practices. Bernard Tokarz, a lobbyist and city contractor, sued the city of Atlanta, Manigault, and the OIG in December 2024 in Fulton County Superior Court for invasion of privacy over subpoenas for his bank records. He filed a similar lawsuit in federal court two months later. Tokarz voluntarily dismissed the Fulton lawsuit on Jan. 21. The federal lawsuit was stayed in July, pending a ruling on Manigault’s and the city’s motions to dismiss.
Is it me or is it a CONSPIRACY!?!?! Am I the only that is questioning the TIMING of the revelation?!?!? This OIG was issuing subpoenas for two years and nothing was said!?!? Until, the City went on its quest to change the Charter regarding the OIG and suddenly the process was a problem. Man, the lengths the City will go to discredit the people and departments that point out its flaws is mind-blowing.
It seems to me the Mayor and most of his staff are stealing from the taxpayers by keeping OIG open. Who in their right mind would trust the castrated OIG to be fair and impartial. OIG should be abolished because they provide no protection to the taxpayers. Atlanta is where CORRUPTION has been normalized.
Mayor Dickens and City Attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker have compromised the OIG by exposing private bank data and stripping its powers. The Mayor and City Attorney should personally cover the legal costs of their attacks on the OIG, not the taxpayers. This ‘castrated’ watchdog is now just the Mayor’s puppet—a total waste of taxpayer money. A toothless OIG is a financial burden on the city; if it cannot function independently of the Mayor and his cronies and criminals, it should be abolished.”
Stay tuned. Any takers on how many times the Interim IG says that was the “previous admin” issues to try and create a.smokescreen
Let us just say it out loud. The mayor, the city attorney, the interim IG, the city council, the ethics officer, the HR commissioner are all complicit in the criminalization of city government. They have done more damage to the city than any regime in our racist past. Shame on them may their lies and criminality catch up with them and may they have numbers on their backs in the future.
They are criminals with degrees, hiding behind law degrees and so called black excellence. I’m certain Maynard Jackson is rolling over in his grave. I phope all the lies and dirty things they did to the folks in the old OiG comel back to bite them in their asses. They deserve no forgiveness.
Stay tuned. Any takers on how many times the Interim IG says that was the “previous admin” issues to try and create a smokescreen..
The interim OIG is just another angry and toxic black women. The city of Atlanta government is filled with them.
Don’t forget the city is lead by one.
I can’t wait until Trump come after them and I’m not a republican . They are vile human beings. Atlanta is known as the city that’s too busy to hate. However, it should be called Atlanta the city too corrupt to care. How sad.
I can smell their shit from a thousand fit. So Shameful and embarrassing. These fools are going to lose Buckhead and the Airport. How stupid.
I read the OIG reports and some of them people suing the OIG is not named directly, so How are they claiming privacy violations by OIG? Who outed them?