Jackson Jambalaya

Former Atlanta powerbroker Mitzi Bickers is going to prison.  A jury convicted her on nine counts of money laundering, conspiracy to commit bribery, and wire fraud Tuesday but found her not guilty on corruption charges involving Jackson.  WXIA reported: 

Mitzi Bickers, a former city official under ex-Mayor Kasim Reed and a political power player after she left his administration, was found guilty on several crimes in a federal corruption trial.

A jury convicted Bickers on nine of the 12 charges she faced, acquitting her on three others.

Bickers faced charges that included three related to bribery, three for money laundering, four for wire fraud, one for witness tampering and one for making false statements/falsifying tax returns....

Bickers was indicted back in 2018, accused of using "her influence as a high-ranking City of Atlanta official and later as a connected political consultant to steer lucrative city contracts" to two contractors in exchange for bribes.

"The illicit arrangement netted over $2 million in bribes for Bickers and almost $17 million in city contracts," for the contractors she had allegedly conspired with, the U.S. Attorney's Office said at the time.

The contractors, Elvin Mitchell and Charles Richards, pleaded guilty to paying the bribes and were sentenced to federal prison time.Article

However, the jury found Bickers not guilty of the charges she bribed former Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber.  A federal grand jury indicted Atlanta political operative Mitzi Bickers on October 22, 2018 for allegedly bribing Jackson officials.  The indictment alleges she paid bribes to obtain contracts for a proposed convention center hotel as well as management of the wastewater program under a federal consent decree. Bickers worked in the 2014 campaign of Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber and donated $10,000 as well. 

The former Jackson Mayor provided some rather salacious testimony in Bickers' trial.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week: 

When he visited several times in 2014, Yarber said, he flew in on a private plane or first-class on Delta Air Lines. He stayed at the Ritz-Carlton downtown. A beautiful woman accompanied him to buy clothes for a Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly outdoor concert he attended free of charge.

The patron of this largesse, federal prosecutors allege, was Pastor Mitzi Bickers.

Bickers, a former political operative and city employee, is accused of receiving $2 million in a cash-for-contracts scheme at Atlanta City Hall. But on Friday prosecutors outlined allegations she used her influence in getting Yarber elected mayor of Mississippi’s capital city to try to swing Jackson city contracts her way.

Prosecutors say Bickers was giving Yarber the star treatment because she was laying the ground work get a bite of a $1 billion contract to fix Jackson’s 100-plus year old sewer system as well as a piece of another $75 million contract for a new convention center hotel.... Article

Former Mayor Yarber said he told the defendant "I can get you to the table, the rest is up to you."  Unfortunately for Bickers, she went back to Atlanta with none of the prized contracts in hand despite her efforts to win the city's favor. 2018 post & copy of indictment.  That little fact is probably what earned her acquittal. 

Bickers will be sentenced in July.  

Atlanta Journal-Constitution coverage of verdict.