A whistleblower lawsuit claiming a Georgia Lottery executive was fired after refusing to support inflated sales projections should go to trial, a Fulton County Superior Court judge decided this week.
Kenneth Knight, former vice president for financial management at the Georgia Lottery, argued that he was pressured by Lottery President Debbie Alford and his boss to present the lottery board with flawed sales projections in April 2014. Knight says in the lawsuit that he told his boss about problems with the numbers, but that they were presented to the board anyway.
About a week after the board meeting, Knight says he was terminated from his job "because of events that took place in March and April of 2014 during the budget process which resulted in misleading information being distributed to our CEO and board of directors," the lawsuit says.
Knight says he was fired to shift blame and cover up the fact that Alford knowingly presented the board with inflated figures, "an act by her that is both unethical and illegal, and which was motivated solely by unlawful political influence."
When the lawsuit was filed in 2015, Lottery officials called it "baseless." They said he was fired "because his superiors lost confidence in his ability to fulfill" the job.
(See Former Georgia Lottery official files whistleblower lawsuit, Lottery Post, Apr. 25, 2015.)
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey denied the Georgia Lottery's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In his decision, Dempsey wrote that Knight had "exemplary" performance reviews in his job and that a jury should decide the issue.
Knight's lawyer, Kim Worth, declined to comment. Joe Kim, senior vice president and legal counsel for the Georgia Lottery said, "We certainly respect the court's decision."
Good!! I hope they get her azz!! She is just as crooked As Nathan Deal who hired her!! The GA Lottery is crooked; they don't even show the drawings like they should. They only show the first ball rolling and the other balls are just sitting there already. What kind of shenanigans is this?
Is there bad fruit in the Peach State?
Your totally right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are so crooked they all should be on trial. They cheat and change when they don't want to pay out. They are full of Shenanigans and other things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I would like a refund please.
I would rather see Ken having a falling out with Debbie, instead of Barbie. Go get her tiger!
I was always happy with how Margaret DeFrancisco ran the Georgia Lottery and sad to see her go. I felt she did a very good job.
They must be relatives or learn how to cheat from Alice Garland up here at NCEL (North Carolina)
Numbered "ping pong" balls are not safe either! NC, when they do not show the announcer and the number coming up the chute at the same time. It is pre-taped here in NC...I guarantee it and they are all in on it!
http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/video.aspx?v=Day