Steve Murrin, Murrin & Wallace, Roswell, Georgia. (Courtesy photo)

Atlanta criminal defense attorney Steve Murrin said Tuesday that human frailty—not any alleged pay-to-play corruption scheme at Atlanta City Hall—led to client Larry Scott's two-year prison sentence for failing to pay taxes or notify the city he had an outside job. 

Scott, who directed the city's Office of Contract Compliance and is a longtime friend of former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's brother, "got no money from anyone," Murrin said. "This is about the frailty of one man who got greedy and didn't pay his taxes. Game over."

Murrin described what led to Scott's two-year prison term in an interview with the Daily Report on Tuesday after U.S. District Judge Steve Jones sentenced Scott and ordered him to pay nearly $125,000 in restitution. Murrin said the restitution included about $49,000 in unpaid taxes on his unreported earnings and another $75,000 in wages the city was permitted to claw back after Scott failed to report that he was earning outside income from Cornerstone U.S. Management Group. Cornerstone offered consulting services for businesses seeking contracts in metropolitan Atlanta and elsewhere, according to federal charging documents.

Scott co-founded Cornerstone in 2011 with Crystal Reed, Kasim's Reed's sister-in-law and the wife of the former mayor's older brother, Tracy F. Reed, according to corporate records on file with the Georgia secretary of state. When the company was administratively dissolved in 2018, Tracy Reed was listed as the registered agent. The company website listed Crystal Reed as Cornerstone's CEO. Scott left the firm in 2016, Murrin said.

Murrin insisted the charges that led to Scott's conviction and sentence "have nothing to do with the mayor's office," despite the connection to the former mayor's brother. Scott "got no money from anyone," the lawyer said. "He assisted the government in the prosecution of no other person. He subjectively knew of no other wrongdoing of no other person. … He was in no backroom deals; he is in no pay for play schemes."

"In the end, whatever happens to Kasim Reed or any members of his administration down the road will have nothing to do with Larry Scott," Murrin added. "Larry Scott was a victim of himself and his own bookkeeping, and, other than that, has no knowledge of Kasim Reed's alleged dealings with any other players."

U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak said Scott's sentence and conviction "close yet another chapter in the disappointing saga of corruption within the City of Atlanta government. "Based on his executive-level positions, Scott was trusted to serve the citizens of Atlanta. By failing to disclose his own business interests, however, Scott betrayed the program he was charged to protect—– and, as a result, tarnished the integrity of Atlanta's disadvantaged business program."

Chris Hacker, special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta office, suggested that Scott's sentence serves as "a warning to any public official[s] who would contemplate abusing their power for personal gain."

Murrin said that Scott "took his medicine" during Tuesday's sentencing hearing in a colloquy that included an apology to the city, his family and the court. Murrin said that Scott helped Tracy Reed organize Cornerstone and worked as the consulting firm's bookkeeper out of "blind loyalty" to a college fraternity brother. He said that when Scott lost a job in the private sector in the 2000s, Tracy Reed—who then worked in the administration of former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin—had set up an interview that eventually led to Scott's employment at Atlanta City Hall.

After Tracy Reed lost his city hall job in 2011, while Kasim Reed was mayor, Scott "came through" for his fraternity brother when he sought help launching a private consulting business, Murrin said. Scott incorporated the firm and set up its website, the lawyer said.

What Scott "wasn't clever about was oversight, exactly what that corporation was doing," Murrin said. "That was Tracy Reed's end of things—day-to-day operations. Larry simply balanced the books every month. … He was not a manager. He was not a day-to-day operations employee. He was simply a bookkeeper."

The Associated Press' coverage of Scott's sentencing Tuesday included a roundup of others who have pleaded guilty in the federal investigation of Kasim Reed's administration. They included former chief procurement officer Adam Smith, Reed's deputy chief of staff, two construction contractors and a man who tried to intimidate one of the construction contractors to keep him from talking to federal investigators.

The AP also reported that longtime City of Atlanta vendor Lohrasb "Jeff" Jafari faces a 51-count indictment accusing him of bribing Smith, plus charges of tax evasion and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty. The AP added that former city director of human services and political consultant Mitzi Bickers is accused of soliciting and accepting payments to help steer lucrative city contracts to two construction contractors and their companies. She has pleaded not guilty.