It all started with a very public lie. After Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was accused of benefiting from the fat checks her office was writing her former lover to prosecute the racketeering case against former President Donald Trump, she struck a defiant tone. “I’m a little confused. I appointed three special counsels, as is my right to do, paid them all the same hourly rate. They only attack one,” Willis said. “I hired one white woman... I hired one white man... And I hired one black man, another superstar, a great friend and a great lawyer." The corporate media seemed to have taken her at face value, but we didn't. And we were right. The DCNF's Katelynn Richardson dug in and discovered Willis did not, in fact, pay all the outside attorneys contracted to handle the Trump case the same hourly rate. Katelynn obtained documents showing Willis' offered a significantly lower hourly rate to Georgia's top RICO expert than she had to Wade, her alleged lover. Wade, it should be noted, had virtually no prosecutorial experience and had mostly handled family, personal injury and criminal defense law. Katelynn dug deeper. She obtained billing statements confirming that Wade was billing significantly more per hour than Georgia's top RICO expert. Not only that, Wade's contract allowed him to earn orders of magnitude more than other outside attorneys on the case. In fact, county records show Wade has raked in $654,000 from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office since the start of 2022. That's significantly more than the other outside attorneys on the case. Things got really interesting when Katelynn obtained documents showing Willis' office had offered lucrative contracts to Wade's business partner. Wade's partner has raked in six figures since 2021 working for Willis' office, billing taxpayers at a rate of $150 per hour, according to documents. Legal experts Katelynn spoke to sounded the alarm on this arrangement. “This is a mystery in and of itself,” Atlanta-based criminal defense attorney and legal analyst Philip Holloway said. “I have no clue why any DA’s office needs to pay a private lawyer to handle ‘first appearance’ calendars. Any Assistant DA could easily do that. They are already on the payroll and it is the most simple of all tasks.” John Malcolm, former deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ’s Criminal Division, added that payments to Wade's partner could pose additional problems for Willis if his work as a taint attorney -- someone who helps sift through evidence obtained through search warrants -- was for the Trump case. We won't stop following this story. Follow Katelynn on X for the latest updates, and make sure to check out her author page for all her incredible coverage. | 
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