(The Center Square) — A 72-year-old Alpharetta businessman faces five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to bribing two Atlanta city officials in exchange for directing millions of dollars of city business to his company.
Lohrasb “Jeff” Jafari, the PRAD Group’s former executive vice president who also pleaded guilty to bribing a former Dekalb County official to try and secure county contracts and “evading” more than $1.5 million in taxes, also faces three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones ordered Jafari to pay a $300 special assessment and $909,674 restitution.
In April, the businessman pleaded guilty to conspiratorial bribery, substantive bribery and tax evasion charges.
“Jeff Jafari paid bribe after bribe to high-ranking government officials in the City of Atlanta and DeKalb County over several years and thereby obtained lucrative city contracts worth tens of millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a release.
“The public paid a heavy price from every project unfairly awarded to Jafari’s companies through corruption, and he then compounded his harm by never paying any tax on his substantial personal income,” Buchanan added. “His greed delivered a hard blow to public trust in honest and fair government, but this sentence underscores our commitment to prosecuting corruption in any form.”
