Airport internal investigation finds misspent money. Two executives resign

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ATLANTA - It started as an internal investigation of Atlanta airport money spent on a funeral reception for a cousin of the deputy general manager.

But when the dust cleared, Deputy General Manager Jai Ferrell was completely cleared and two top marketing executives resigned during the internal investigation.

When officials at Atlanta's airport have something to say, Deputy GM Jai Ferrell is often the one saying it.

But, Ferrell recently found herself in the middle of a controversy that could easily have left her speechless. 

And, it started with this one simple invoice.

"Titled Catering for Ambassador photo shoot," said Airport GM Belram "B" Bheodari.

B Bheodari says the $1,832 invoice looked like a photo shoot, but the backup paperwork had word written on it: repass. That's another name for a family gathering after a funeral. Bheodari immediately opened an investigation.

Turns out the invoice was for food served at the funeral of Jai Ferrell's cousin who died in a car accident in February. But Bheodari says his investigator concluded Ferrell thought the food was cooked and donated by the staff. 

"The forensic investigation clearly spells out that Jai has no knowledge of it, and she's not culpable in any way shape or form in the expenditure of money," said Bheodari.

Jai Ferrell

Investigators went through 343 invoices in the marketing division, which the I-Team also examined, and found $4,000 was improperly spent by two marketing executives: Tangela Parker and Kysha Knox-Scott. 

Both were deemed responsible, according to the final investigative report for ordering the funeral food. 

The report also concluded both women were involved in spending $624 on food for Tangela Parker's "birthday celebration" at the office.

$307 for executive protection pins for the Mayor's office were ordered by Ms. Knox-Scott.

$1,378 for candles also for the mayor's office were ordered by Tangela Parker, again according to the report.

"In the grand scheme of things, $4,000, inappropriate use of $4000 is mall. But this small thing can mushroom into bigger things," Bheodari said.

Passengers head to US Customs at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. (Photo by Camilo Freedman/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Tangela Parker and Knox-Scott were top level marketing employees at the airport. Both resigned within a month of each other in February. Knox Scott wrote in her resignation letter that she became "the target of an increasingly insidious hostile and toxic work environment."

"Up to that moment, Kysha was a happy employee. Only after she found I had initiated an investigation, did she come up with this notion that there is a hostile, and toxic work environment."

Bheodari says his investigation is now complete. He believes the two women who resigned were not acting maliciously, but their actions took a toll on the staff.

"The worst part of it is the impact it has on the rest of my team. I will not let bad behavior of two individual besmirch the work of the men and women of this organization," Bheodari said.

Bheodari says he will do everything he legally can to recover the money on behalf of the airport. He does not expect any criminal charges in this case.  

But when the dust cleared, Deputy GM Jai Ferrell was completely cleared and two top marketing executives resigned during the internal investigation.

We reached out to both women through social media sites and have not heard back from either one.