Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis announced on Monday that one city employee has been fired and two others have been placed on leave in the wake of the $14.7 million fraud that sent city money to a fraudulent entity, Yellow Hammer News and FOX10 News reported. The mayor said the scheme was not an 'inside job'. The employees were not named in the reports.

Source: Yellow Hammer News via Spot On Alabama

The $14.7 million — about Rs 130 crore — was a single payment made in early October, tied to construction of the new Regions Arena downtown, the mayor said last week. He said he learned of the loss on Friday, October 16, and the city disclosed it on Tuesday, October 20. It was one transaction in an ongoing series of large payments for the roughly $300 million arena project, which is scheduled to open in the spring of 2027.

Source: WKRG News 5

The FBI and the U.S. Secret Service are investigating. The city has brought in a national law firm and a forensic accounting firm, put additional financial controls in place — 'If a check has two commas, it needs to be a check hand-delivered,' the mayor said — and says the loss will be covered from contingency funds without affecting this year's capital projects. No arrests or charges have been announced, and the city has not said whether any of the money has been recovered.

Source: South AL News

'This is bad, this is bad, and there is nothing I can say to make it good,' Cheriogotis told reporters last week. 'It was your money, and we have a duty to protect it.' City Council members are expected to question the administration about the loss at their regular meeting on Tuesday, October 27.

Source: South AL News