Former Atlanta mayor Bill Campbell has been indicted on corruption charges.

Campbell is accused of a long string of corruption, racketeering and tax fraud charges.

The detailed 48-page indictment was returned by the federal grand jury on Aug. 18, but was unsealed this morning.

It accuses Campbell of:

• Taking payoffs from individuals and companies doing business with and seeking business and licenses with the city;
• Defrauding the citizens of Atlanta by depriving them of his "good, faithful and honest services as mayor;"
• Failing to disclose cash payments and other things of value he received while serving as mayor.
• Encouraging and accepting illegal campaign contributions for his re-election as mayor in 1997.
• Participating in a scheme to defraud contributors to and creditors of his re-election campaign;
• Recruiting others, including city employees, to "knowingly and unknowingly participate in the pattern of racketeering activity."

Specifically, the indictment charges that Campbell took $55,000 in illegal payments from a computer subcontractor in June, July and August of 1999. The payments were made to secure city contracts, according to the indictment.

The indictment claims in the spring of 1999 the computer subcontractor, the business' name is not disclosed, approached Campbell about a contract.

Campbell, now an attorney with Willie Gary's law firm in Florida, calls the investigation a "witch hunt of unbelieveable proportions," and that his name will be cleared in court.

Posted by: mhking at 06:49 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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