Federal ruling indicates former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed under investigation on allegations of wire fraud

ATLANTA - A recent federal court ruling regarding a secret grand jury investigation inadvertently linked a wire fraud investigation to former Mayor Kasim Reed, according to the judge's ruling.

No candidate is named in the ruling that details alleged personal purchases of lingerie, jewelry, resort travel, and furniture totaling less than $9,000 made with campaign funds.

Senior I-Team reporter says after reviewing the original ruling which was later redacted one expenditure matches exactly to the penny a campaign expense authorized by former Mayor Reed.

"We reduced crime by 33% and we did it in a way to was consistent with my values," said former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. 

In a recent interview with FOX 5, Kasim Reed touted his success as Mayor with battling crime in Atlanta.  What we didn't know then, was the new Mayoral candidate is seemingly under FBI investigation for old campaign donations he spent.  

The allegations surfaced in a ruling about a secret investigation of wire fraud during a political campaign. The lawyer for the campaign under investigation was fighting to keep from testifying before a grand jury. But a three-judge panel here at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled he would have to. 

The ruling - which was posted online - didn't identify the candidate. Didn't name the office held. But it spelled out a months-long investigation of wire fraud and a battle by federal prosecutors to get the unnamed politician’s attorney to testify.

Though Kasim Reed's name never appears in the ruling, there was one clue that he was the unnamed politician.

The ruling contained a list of questionable items that appeared to be personal and were bought with the politician's donated campaign money. That is illegal. 

It detailed a $179 purchase at a lingerie store; $4259 at a vacation resort, $2079 at a jewelry store, and $1003 at a Caribbean resort. None of these items were disclosed on the politician's campaign reports as required by law,

But one item was disclosed on a campaign report.

A "$1,234.47 purchase of furniture from an online retailer, which was shipped directly to the candidate's mother." That purchase was disclosed on a campaign report as "Office Supplies" according to the ruling.

The I-Team found an "Office Supplies" expenditure during the same time frame - for the exact same amount -  down to the penny - on the 2017 campaign disclosure of then-Mayor Kasim Reed.

Mayor Reed's campaign attorney at the time was Jeremy Berry. 

Berry's attorney Scott Grubman confirmed that "Mr. Berry received a subpoena to testify as part of the government's ongoing investigation" and has been told numerous times by the U.S. Attorney's Office that "he is not a subject of the investigation, but is simply a witness."

This is far from the first criminal investigation of Mayor Kasim Reed's cabinet and administration.

For years the FOX 5 I-Team reported on FBI and IRS raids, agents hauling potential evidence out of city hall, threats made to potential witnesses, and a jaw-dropping number of top city officials and city contractors who plead guilty to a variety of federal crimes.   Or are awaiting trial.  All under the administration of former Mayor Kasim Reed.

We tried to reach Kasim Reed and his team but had no luck. 

After the 11th Circuit court ruling was filed, stating that the attorney would have to testify, a strange thing happened. That reference to the exact Office Supplies expense that exactly matched Kasim Reed's campaign report was removed from the ruling.  

One legal expert told the I-Team that such a change likely would have come from a motion filed by a party to the proceedings. But, because the case is under seal, we can't know for sure.

And the now not so secret grand jury investigation of former Mayor Kasim Reed continues.

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