EKI-Digital
Coverage of EKI-Digital in the Nexus archive.
- Financial troubles have dogged former Lightfoot aide at center of City Hall hiring, contracting scandal
Former City Hall chief operating officer Paul Goodrich had unpaid IRS tax liens exceeding $90,000 when hired by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2021. His son later secured a paid internship with contractor Robert Blackwell Jr., who submitted $9.6 million in disputed invoices for unauthorized IT work, leading to an investigation. Current Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration reduced the payment to $600,000 and seeks to ban Blackwell’s company EKI-Digital from city contracts.
- Mayor Johnson's campaign fund to return donation from IT consultant hammered by City Hall's inspector general
Mayor Brandon Johnson's campaign is returning a $250 donation from Robert Blackwell Jr., whose IT consulting company EKI-Digital has been criticized in an inspector general's report for potential overbilling and incomplete government work. The report also highlights that Blackwell hired Paul Goodrich’s son for an internship while Goodrich was Chicago’s chief operating officer.
- Two top Mayor Brandon Johnson aides had ties to tech consultant at center of hiring, contracting scandal
Two top aides to Mayor Brandon Johnson had ties to EKI-Digital, a tech consulting firm central to a hiring and contracting scandal. John Roberson, Johnson’s former chief operating officer, managed EKI’s public sector operations, while current City Hall comptroller Michael Belsky worked for EKI during the firm’s controversial dealings with former Lightfoot administration official Paul W. Goodrich.