Editor’s note: Atlanta Civic Circle is choosing not to publish the OIG employees’ letter in full, because we cannot independently verify its allegations, which specifically name individuals and organizations that would reasonably have a right to reply.
Five staff members from Atlanta’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) invoked whistleblower protections in a letter that they sent to state and federal prosecutors on Monday summarizing several open investigations.
The OIG staffers asked the Atlanta US Attorney’s Office, the FBI, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, and Georgia Inspector General Nigel Lange to pursue the investigations, saying new legislation from the Atlanta City Council now prohibits the OIG from conducting criminal probes.
The March 3 letter, obtained by Atlanta Civic Circle, is also addressed to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta City Council. It outlines multiple OIG investigations concerning wide-ranging allegations of fraud, misuse of public funds, and ethics violations that involve city contracts and improper city expenditures.
The OIG letter-signers asked for state and federal whistleblower protections against retaliation from Atlanta city officials for both themselves and the probes’ information sources. (One of the signers, Deputy Inspector General Shelby Williams, resigned the same day.) Whistleblower laws protect government employees from retaliation or prosecution for reporting fraud, misuse of public funds, and ethics violations in government.
The Georgia attorney general’s spokesperson, Kara Murray, said in an email that Carr’s office has received the letter. “However, our office does not have a role in this matter,” she added.
The US Attorney’s office declined to comment. The FBI’s Atlanta field office said via email on Wednesday that it had not yet received the letter.
“However, the FBI receives many complaints of criminal activity and how we handle them is a confidential process,” the FBI’s emailed statement said. “Similarly, to protect the privacy of people who contact the FBI, we cannot confirm or deny any particular contact. As a general matter, allegations of criminal conduct are reviewed by the FBI for their merit, with consideration of any applicable federal laws.”
The mayor’s office did not respond to Atlanta Civic Circle’s request for comment, but it called the letter an “attempt to tarnish the names and reputations of not only city employees, but private citizens and social service organizations,” in a statement to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution, which first reported the whistleblower letter.
“Furthermore, releasing information about active investigations is dangerous, unethical and possibly illegal,” the Dickens administration’s statement said.
What’s in the letter?
The letter summarized at least eight ongoing OIG probes, with some dating back to 2023.
- One of the probes involves the city’s unsuccessful effort to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC). The letter cites a complaint of an allegedly improper $500,000 city council donation to a group trying to secure Atlanta’s bid for the 2024 DNC, saying the city code only allows donations to charity nonprofits. The OIG letter-writers also claim the Dickens administration apparently coordinated a payment of over $2 million to a large industry group to reschedule its convention at the Georgia World Congress Center, so the venue would be available for the DNC.
- Another probe is over a complaint alleging that the Department of Watershed Management used “cheap and inadequate valve boxes” for city water lines.
- One investigation is over complaints alleging that campaign contributors to high-level city officials subsequently received city jobs, contracts, or donations to nonprofits.
- Another investigation is over a complaint alleging that a Parks and Recreation Department official used a city contractor to install a fence at their home, but altered the contractor’s invoice so the fence appeared to have been built for a city park and used another city contractor to pay the bill.
- Another probe is over a complaint alleging that a high-ranking Atlanta Fire and Rescue Department official used city equipment and property for a private safety business.