Mayor Brandon Johnson has dismissed a hiring and contracting scandal that was the subject of an investigation by City Hall’s inspector general as a matter involving a “previous mayoral administration,” that of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
But two top aides to Johnson had ties to the consulting company at the center of the scandal, EKI-Digital. And one of them, John Roberson, was involved in the decision to pay the technology firm $600,000 in taxpayer money despite red flags about some of its municipal work.
Roberson was Johnson’s chief operating officer from about the time Johnson took office in May 2023 until July 2025, when Roberson left to work for the Obama Foundation that’s overseeing former President Barack Obama’s soon-to-open presidential museum on the South Side.
Roberson was “managing principal” for EKI in 2014 and 2015, responsible for the tech contractor’s “Public Sector practice, including business development, client management and government relations,” according to his LinkedIn profile.
Johnson’s current City Hall comptroller, Michael Belsky, worked for EKI when its deal was forged with Lightfoot’s former top aide, Paul W. Goodrich, and Goodrich’s son landed a paid internship with EKI. Belsky was still working for the company, though apparently on his way out, when EKI was trying to collect nearly $10 million in what city officials now describe as questionable invoices submitted by the firm.
Shortly before Johnson took office as mayor, city officials began raising concerns about EKI invoices outlining work performed while Lightfoot was mayor, according to city records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times and interviews with people familiar with what happened.
EKI has done work for the city of Chicago dating to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s tenure, providing technology to improve efficiencies, working on projects to squeeze more revenue from the city’s much-criticized parking-meter privatization deal and identifying people who owe the city money. Over the past 24 years, City Hall had paid EKI more than $115 million.
Goodrich, who was Lightfoot’s chief operating officer, gave the company additional city work apparently without going through official channels and possibly without a formal contract, according to city records that pose questions about whether all of the work tied to the billing ended up being done.
On April 20, 2023 — after Johnson defeated Lightfoot and less than a month before he took office — Sandra Blakemore, then-commissioner of the city’s Department of Assets, Information, and Services, emailed two other city officials with the subject line “Major Concern.” Blakemore, who is now Johnson’s commissioner of human resources, wrote: “We need to talk. I’m very concerned about these invoices from EKI for $9.6 million that I have no knowledge of and was per the vendor authorized by Paul Goodrich. I don’t know what this work is for and how this work was procured. The way I found out about this was the vendor contacted the Comptroller. Per the vendor, these invoices were sent directly to only Paul.
“It’s unacceptable that I have been kept in the dark on this project and now have this problem. I am not signing anything approving work that was done without a city contract.”
As City Hall’s inspector general office has since revealed, Goodrich was overseeing EKI’s city work at the time his college-age son William was hired as an intern by EKI owner Robert Blackwell Jr., a longtime Obama associate and campaign contributor.
Belsky, who was working for Blackwell at the time, told the inspector general’s office he tried to discourage Blackwell from hiring Goodrich’s son because of how it could be perceived, but Blackwell went ahead with it anyway, a source told the Sun-Times.
With Lightfoot’s exit, Roberson replaced Goodrich at City Hall. He oversaw cleaning up the mess after city officials raised alarms about Goodrich and EKI.
EKI leaders, in emails obtained from City Hall, said the work did get done and that the billing was accurate. They said they’ve provided city officials with records to document that.
In a written statement, a spokesman for Blackwell says: “The inspector general allegations about billing irregularities are the result of a long-running contract dispute for work EKI performed without being paid. The work was completed for the Lightfoot administration, well-documented and billed at the direction of the then-city comptroller. It was also discussed with the Johnson administration comptroller to seek a resolution.
“Those invoices totaling $9.6 million were never paid by the city and were only subsequently contested by the [Office of Inspector General. Mr. Blackwell looks forward to further documenting these facts in an upcoming case before the city’s Department of Procurement Services,” which is the agency that oversees city contracting with private businesses.
Belsky, then a top EKI executive, was among those mentioning the outstanding invoices to Johnson administration officials in what appeared to be an attempt to get city officials to pay up, records show.
“The agreement stipulated a billing rate of $500,000 per month from August 2022 to November 2022 for the strategy and design phases of the agreed-upon work,” Belsky wrote in an email to Johnson’s then-city comptroller Chasse Rehwinkel in July 2023. “In October 2022, we mutually agreed with the [chief operating officer] to commence phase 2 of the initiative at a fixed bid price of $1.625 million per month, covering the period from December 2022 to June 2023. The revised Master Services Agreement (MCA) served as the procurement vehicle and validation of this arrangement.
“The outstanding receivable represents work performed and billed monthly from August 2022 through April 2023. As of now, the payable to EKI Digital amounts to approximately $9.9 million.”
After a so-called “Exhibit B” examination of the $9.6 million in invoices from EKI, the Johnson administration paid EKI $600,000 on Dec. 18, 2023, for a “hire tracker application,” saying it was the only work that officials could document EKI performed under the Goodrich deal. The tracker was designed to streamline and speed city hiring.
Johnson aides have said the arrangement resolved the dispute and avoided the possibility of EKI suing for payment.
City Hall emails show Blackwell appealed directly to Roberson on June 2, 2023, for help getting paid, writing: “I hope that this email finds you well. Would you have any availability early next week to discuss the current situation related to our contract and payables?”
It’s unclear whether a written settlement agreement exists. The Sun-Times has asked Johnson’s office to provide a copy of any such deal. City officials haven’t provided a copy and have given different explanations about its existence.
After agreeing to pay just 6% of the $9.6 million Blackwell sought, Johnson’s administration has allowed EKI to continue working for City Hall in other capacities, then hired Belsky for a top government position, as city comptroller, in May 2025. Belsky formerly was mayor of Highland Park.
Blackwell gave Johnson a $250 campaign contribution shortly before Belsky’s hiring, records show. Under city ethics rules, mayors aren’t supposed to take campaign money from city contractors.
The professional relationship between Blackwell and Belsky had soured by the time Belsky left EKI to the extent that sources say Blackwell tried to dissuade the Johnson administration from hiring him.
A lawyer for Belsky says he “vigorously disputes any suggestion or inference of impropriety on his part or on the part of the Johnson administration as it relates to EKI-Digital and the work that it performed for the city of Chicago.
“Mr. Belsky’s primary responsibility as it related to the city of Chicago was identifying budget line items as to which EKI-Digital’s technology could yield savings, culminating in a comprehensive report prepared by EKI-Digital. Mr. Belsky interfaced with EKI-Digital engineers that performed worked for the city of Chicago but was not responsible for or involved with contracting, implementation, auditing and/or billing for such work.
“Mr. Belsky has not been involved in any evaluation of the work performed by EKI-Digital and would recuse himself from any such evaluation or decisions relating thereto.”
Goodrich couldn’t be reached for comment.
Roberson declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said: “Roberson was tasked with addressing all outstanding issues under the purview of the COO office. As Roberson’s involvement in this matter did not violate the city’s reverse revolving door policy, per code 2-156-111, he addressed this matter as a standard function of his role in conjunction with relevant departments.”
The inspector general’s office released a report in April saying an investigation determined that “a former senior staff member in the mayor’s office” — identified by sources as Goodrich — “used their city title and its authority to solicit a job for their child from the president of a city contractor.
“The president of the city contractor hired the senior staff member’s child for a paid internship reporting directly to the president. While their child worked for the contractor, the senior staff member attempted to increase the scope of the contractor’s work for the city, allowed the contractor to perform unauthorized work for the city and attempted to facilitate $9.6 million in payments to the contractor to which the contractor was not entitled.”
The inspector general’s office “found that the $9.6 million in invoices the contractor submitted to the city contained false claims and intentional and negligent billing irregularities, and the invoices failed to comply with city procurement procedures. OIG’s investigation revealed that the senior staff member and the president of the contractor had communicated with [City Hall’s law department] regarding the invoices.”
The inspector general recommended that EKI, now known as Quant16, be banned from getting future City Hall business, a recommendation Johnson’s aides say is being considered.
Blackwell has hired Mara Georges, who ran City Hall’s law department under Daley, to fight the proposed ban, which would end his business with the city of Chicago.