BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A lawyer for Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot is denying government claims that she improperly directed payments from county bond deals to two small banking firms.
Jim Parkman says the allegations in the lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission are completely wrong.
A suit filed against two former executives with JPMorgan Chase & Co. claims Smoot and a former commissioner demanded that a Wall Street firm make payments totaling $500,000 to two Alabama-based firms in complicated bond deals.
Smoot wasn't named in the suit and wasn't accused of a crime. The deals helped lead to the conviction and removal from office of Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford last week.
Smoot is running for Congress as a Democrat in Alabama's 7th District.
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