Father of indicted Shelby County Commissioner tells county mayor ‘be careful’
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The father of an indicted Shelby County commissioner delivered a warning to Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris on Thursday.
“The mayor better be careful. He’s the one,” Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford Sr. said as his son, Shelby County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr., left his first court appearance since being indicted for bribery and tax evasion.
Ford Sr.’s statements came as a response to Harris sending out a release calling on commissioners not to let Ford Jr. participate in grant conversations indefinitely. It was that grant program that led Ford Jr. to turn himself in on a federal indictment on February 28.
“Considering these allegations of criminal corruption, it is appropriate for the Commission to stop Commissioner Ford from additional grant-making and participating in the County grant-making process while the prosecution is ongoing,” Harris said.
While walking out of federal court on Thursday with his son, Ford Sr. told FOX13, “Thank y’all. Have a very blessed day. The mayor needs to be quiet.”
Federal investigators claimed that Ford Jr. used the grant program to funnel public money into his private accounts through kickbacks from non-profits. Prosecutors said they will have more than 80,000 pages of documents and files and more than 500 gigabytes of audio files and texts related to Ford Jr.’s alleged schemes.
Ford Jr.’s attorney said that amount of evidence is standard in a case like this.
“Any time you have a case like this, especially with the IRS involved, there’s going to be a lot of financial documents, bank records, those types of things,” attorney Michael Scholl said.
Scholl is familiar with the Ford family. He previously represented Ford Sr. when he was indicted on federal bribery charges nearly 20 years ago. A jury found Ford Sr. not guilty of all charges.
Like his father, Scholl said Ford Jr. is prepared for the legal challenge ahead.
“Commissioner Ford is great. He’s strong. He’s ready to fight,” Scholl said.
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