Former Atlanta Watershed Director Indicted On Bribery Charges

ATLANTA, GA — A former City of Atlanta Watershed Management Director is facing bribery and tax evasion charges. A federal grand jury indicted Jo Ann Macrina who is also charged with conspiratorial bribery.

Macrina served as the head of the department until 2016 when former Mayor Kasim Reed fired her. The mayor accused her of mismanagement and questioned her travel expenses.

In October, the U.S. Attorney’s Office subpoenaed Macrina’s records and travel expenses.

The grand jury also indicted city contractor Lohrasb “Jeff” Jafari on new bribery charges, according to a news release. He is accused of bribing Macrina. Jafari was originally indicted in March 2019 on 51 federal charges of bribery, tampering with a witness, tax evasion, money laundering, and structuring.

Macrina allegedly accepted $10,000 in cash, jewelry, a room at a luxury hotel in Dubai, and landscaping work at her home from Jafari either directly or through an employee of PRAD. On May 20, 2016, Macrina’s employment ended with the City of Atlanta. Shortly thereafter, she began working for Jafari and PRAD Group. Between June 2016 and September 2016, Jafari and/or PRAD Group paid Macrina $30,000 in four separate payments. She did not report any of these funds on her 2016 income tax return.

“Macrina allegedly decided that accepting bribes from Jafari was more important than following the rules established for contracting by the City of Atlanta – and thereby betrayed the public’s trust,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “In exchange for those bribe payments, Macrina manipulated the evaluation process to direct work to Jafari’s firm.”

“Circumventing the process to hire contractors for the city by accepting bribes to profit personally is the highest form of public corruption,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “It is extremely disturbing when the person alleged to have accepted bribes is the head of a department. Our public corruption squad is determined to hold those serving the public in positions of trust accountable.”