Buie pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 1994
Court documents show fired Albany Downtown Manager Don Buie was convicted in 1994 on one count of bank fraud.
He was sentenced to serve six months in prison with one month community confinement. Buie also received five years of supervised provision and had to pay the Baltimore Federal Credit Union $30,000. Albany City Manager Al Lott says the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act has "governed third-party access to credit, criminal, civil, and driving records and protects individuals from felony and/or misdemeanor criminal history background checks for the past seven years”. Buie's conviction happened prior to that search window.
“But in this particular case the city and Slavin Consultant are the victim of this whole issue. Certainly had we known he was guilty of bank fraud I would have - we wouldn't have interviewed him, Slavin would have never sent us his resume and he would have been disqualified immediately,” said Lott.
Slavin Management Consultants also notes that on Buie's application to their firm, he answered "no" to the question: Have you ever been convicted of violating any law other than a minor traffic offense?
Mike Lewis with the GBI says they cannot comment on past convictions and that their investigation into Buie’s alleged misuse of ADICA funds is ongoing.