Fulton County agencies sue to recover bonuses

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Lamendola

Fulton County’s main economic development agencies are suing to recover $3.1 million in performance bonuses they claim were obtained fraudulently by their former executive directors.

The Fulton County Economic Development Corp. and its real estate subsidiary, Crossroads Incubator Corp., allege that Jeff Bray and Peter Sciocchetti committed fraud, negligence, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties and conversion by “surreptitiously” awarding themselves bonuses without board approval.

In addition, the agencies are seeking $1 million in punitive damages from each man. They are also suing accounting firm Bonadio and Co. and its various entities, plus Dorfman-Robbie, an auditing firm now part of Bonadio, for negligence, malpractice, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. The suit accuses Dorfman-Robbie of not informing the board about irregularities auditors found in the executive bonuses obtained by the two men.

The agencies filed suit in state Supreme Court in Fulton County in October. Bray served as EDC executive vice president and Sciocchetti as CIC executive vice president from 1999 to 2009. Both were fired in August 2010 following disclosures they awarded themselves multiyear bonuses through 2009.

The agencies had performance bonus agreements in place with both men, but the board had to approve bonuses before they could be issued.