Tracking The Projects Identified In The Bribery Probe Into Atlanta's Permitting Process

Three Atlanta city employees allegedly accepted bribes to help fast-track permit applications in the planning department, according to the city’s Office of the Inspector General.

The OIG's report, issued last week, points to contractors working to secure permits for renovations on behalf of a local homebuilder, restaurateur and a physician, drawing attention to an apparent "pay to play" scheme of city employees accepting direct payments in exchange for permit approvals.

Shannon Manigault, the city’s inspector general, referred the issue to the Fulton County District Attorney for potential criminal charges, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Manigault also called for more reforms in the planning department to safeguard against abuse by city employees.

Her office said two former city employees and one current project manager in the Light Commercial Division of the Department of City Planning Office of Buildings took in thousands of dollars in bribes from contractors and business owners to get applications approved, including a single $1,200 payment to get a Buckhead restaurant the permit it needed to open. 

While the report doesn't name any specific developers or projects associated with the applications, a Bisnow analysis of city permit records named in the report identified the parties the OIG says are involved in the bribery scheme. One of the payments in the report was allegedly sent with the memo “expeditor.”

According to the report, a former city permit technician received a $1,200 payment to a personal account of the money transferring app Zelle from an “organizer for Company E” for a permit coded BB-202205341. 

A local contractor named Ousmane Cisse and Virgil Harper, the chef-owner of Toast on Lenox, are listed on the permit application, seeking to do $100K of interior work on the restaurant at 349 14th St., a 1938-built, single-story retail building in the Home Park neighborhood.

After the city employee, identified by the OIG as Shaniecia Tucker, allegedly received the payment on Feb. 9, 2023 from the permit organizer, the permit was approved and closed 14 days later, according to the inspector general.

Cisse and Harper didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment. The OIG has come under fire from a government worker association and some city officials for her investigation methods and for potentially jeopardizing the privacy of city employees by naming them in a public report, the AJC reported.

Manigault said at a hearing this week that some of the complaints about her work amounted to "fear mongering surrounding employee rights."

In April 2023, Tucker allegedly received a $600 Zelle payment from the registered agent for Iverson Studios and Salon Suites, which was seeking the approval of a $21K interior renovation at 83 Walton St., according to the OIG report. Nearly a month later, Tucker issued the permit.

The permit in the report lists Chadworth Homes’ Frank Lewis as the contractor. Lewis couldn't be reached for comment, while Iverson didn't respond to a message seeking comment.

Lewis was also the contractor on another permit Tucker approved that was highlighted by the OIG at 541 Westmeath Drive. Tucker allegedly received $600 via Zelle after issuing a permit to remove a roof off the single-story home to build a second story. The owner of the home was listed as Property Key Real Estate Investments, which was headed by Ayana Moore of Mableton before the LLC was terminated by the State of Georgia in July. Bisnow could find no contact information for either the company or Moore.

In another instance, Tucker allegedly signed off on construction permits in April 2023 for renovations on a retail store without the proper documents. The store, according to the permit number in the OIG report, is Herr Clothing at 2350 Cheshire Bridge Road.

“The documents she uploaded were a screenshot of like a picture of someone's phone showing the Secretary of State's website,” an official in city planning's Office of Buildings official told the OIG, according to the report.

The retailer informed the planning department two months later that the permit was issued under a license it didn’t authorize, according to the report, and the Atlanta Police Department revoked the permit. That was that same day that Tucker's employment at the planning office was terminated, the OIG wrote.

B.E. Miller General Contractor Co. owner Marcus Miller is listed as the contractor for that work in city records. He told Bisnow he was brought in last summer after the previous contractor was discovered to have an invalid license. The report didn't disclose the name of the previous contractor.

“I just know I was brought in to help finalize that project,” Miller said. “I know they got a stop work and the contractor they had either didn’t have a license or stopped work.”

Miller said many clients claim they have inside sources in the city who can expedite permits, “but it never works.” He added that the speed at which the city’s permitting process operates is a source of frustration.

“They’re making their money because they get paid 40 hours a week. There’s no hurry or rush for them. We eat what we kill,” he said. “And it’s not just the City of Atlanta. It’s other municipalities that have the same problem.”

According to the report, Tucker was fired from city planning on July 5, 2023, after telling the registered agent to inform the owner to submit a change in contractor form. Miller said he never knew Tucker and had no idea about the OIG report.

In March of last year, the OIG interviewed Tucker about a total of $2,000 in payments from companies that received permits she was assigned to and approved. Tucker claimed to not remember receiving the money and said she was refunded $1,200 from one business for overcharging her at its establishment.

“After OIG explained to Tucker that it had matched these payments to Tucker’s assignment to these customers’ permit applications and noted that this was an opportunity for her to tell OIG what was happening in the [light commercial] division, Tucker told OIG that she would need a lawyer present to discuss anything,” the report stated.

Tucker’s supervisor in the light commercial division of the city’s planning department, Angela Epps, also was accused of receiving a total of $450 in payments from an unidentified electrician between July 2021 and November 2022.

Epps alleged the money was paid because the electrician was “‘someone that used to try and date [Epps],’ and that, as part of the electrician’s romantic pursuit, the electrician would try and gift her money,” the OIG wrote in the report. But the OIG found three of the five payments coincided with permits Epps approved for the electrician.

Former city employee Sheaner Magee also was accused of accepting Zelle payments from permit applicants from an unidentified Atlanta-based showroom, a developer and an LLC totaling nearly $1,000 between January 2022 and February 2023.

While she denied taking payments to expedite permits, the OIG said Magee claimed the payments and personal communications with applicants were for personal business and “told OIG to contact customers if OIG wanted to know more,” according to the report. 

After Magee was transferred to the Atlanta Finance Department in May 2023, the OIG alleges she continued to access the permitting system to help companies obtain permits, including getting a permit to demolish the interior of 58 North Ave., an 18K SF warehouse near Echo Street West in Atlanta. The OIG didn't allege that Magee received payments to do so.

Darrell Ellison with Decatur-based Landman Development Group, the contractor listed on that permit, denied knowing about the OIG report and denied paying Magee any money to approve the permit.

“Why would I pay a city employee when that’s what they’re [supposed to be] doing?” he told Bisnow.

IMC Construction Co. was listed as a contractor on another permit the OIG claimed Magee approved even though she was no longer with the planning office.

IMC’s Innocent Nwachukwu was tapped to convert space into a doctor’s office for Anwan Regenerative Center at 28 Lenox Point, according to the permit number listed in the OIG report. The report didn't allege any money was given to Magee to do so.

“I did not make any payment to any city official on behalf of anybody. Nobody has ever asked me to give anything,” Nwachukwu told Bisnow. “I didn’t even process the permit. The doctor, he processed the permit. I’m the contractor, that’s all that is.”

T'Keyah Dooley, on behalf of Anwan founder Dr. Donovan Christie, emailed Bisnow to say the project was still not complete after Nwachukwu “consistently gouged the company for money.”

“Innocent took over the project last August 2023. He has made multiple adjustments to the contract costing the practice an inordinate amount of money. This project has been going on for 2.5 years as a result,” Dooley wrote in an email. “Anwan wishes the city the best in bringing the malpractices to light. Dr Christie has been in practice for over 23 years and has worked extremely hard to maintain the integrity of his practice.”