‘Not Illegal to Give a Gift,’ Contractor’s Lawyer Says of Alleged Bribes
An attorney for a contractor accused of passing envelopes of cash in restaurant bathrooms to Atlanta’s former purchasing director said that if his client made payments to imprisoned city official Adam Smith, it was out of generosity to a cash-strapped friend and not with corrupt intent, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It is not illegal to give a gift, goodwill, friendship,” unless it’s for a dishonest purpose to influence that official, said Steve Sadow, an attorney for contractor Jeff Jafari.
Sadow also said in a federal court hearing that evidence provided by prosecutors so far suggests that Smith took money from more people than prosecutors have revealed, but that those individuals haven’t been prosecuted.
Read the Journal-Constitution article.
