MARIETTA, Ga. – State Rep. Tyrone Brooks’s lawyer, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, vowed to amass a vigorous defense against a 30-count federal indictment that charges the beloved civil rights advocate of gouging his two charities of approximately $1 million over a 20-year span.
Barnes told a room full of reporters at his suburban Atlanta law office that Brooks’ organizations practiced bad accounting and were in need of a qualified bookkeeper, but vehemently denied that his client broke the law or knowingly deceived the state and federal governments. Barnes criticized U.S. Attorney Sally Yates, whom he said should have exercised better discretion and not brought charges against the civil rights veteran.
Brooks, D-Atlanta, was indicted last week following a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was released on bond May 22.
Last week, the grand jury in Atlanta handed down a 30-count indictment that alleged Brooks deliberately misappropriated almost $1 million in donations to the charities for his personal benefit, including home repair, lawn service, credit card bills and entertainment.
The indictment accuses Brooks, who has been in office for 32 years, of channeling funds from the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, which he served as president, and Universal Humanities, an organization he established in the early 1990s to eradicate the deplorably high levels of illiteracy in disadvantaged communities, particularly African Americans.
As part of the indictment, the feds ordered Brooks to relinquish his passport and he is forbidden from traveling outside the state of Georgia without permission from the court.
Barnes refused to allow Brooks to speak to reporters and claimed that someone from the FBI was in the room during the news conference.
The former governor said Brooks was reimbursed for expenses from both organizations instead of drawing a salary.
“What he should have done was set up a salary for his full-time work, a very modest salary, and if he had done that we would not be here today.”
The citizens of metro Atlanta as well as the state of Georgia have weighed in on this high-profile corruption case and most have not been kind to neither Brooks nor Barnes. Take a look at what some had to say below:
