When Kiernan McKiernan bought Urban Logic in 2012, he was unaware of the events going on behind the scenes among employees working for the the consulting firm who were assigned to function as Beaumont city officials, McKiernan’s attorney said in an interview Thursday, May 19.
Earlier this week, seven former Beaumont officials, several of whom owned or worked for Urban Logic, were charged, accused of misappropriating $43 million from Beaumont over two decades.
“We’re not surprised by what is happening at all,” McKiernan’s attorney William Nassar said of the indictments. “This has been a long time coming. We anticipated it.”
McKiernan purchased the company in 2012, nearly two decades after it was formed by three of the suspects who would become contract city employees.
“My client doesn’t have anything to do with the indictments that have come down,” Nassar said. “These are actions that have transpired with the previous owners, the city manager and the city engineer.”
According to Nassar, the company is nearly defunct because of its tainted reputation.
“We haven’t done any business in Urban Logic in quite some time because of the issues that were unknown at the time it was purchased and the issues resulting from the review of documents and meetings with the city of Beaumont,” he said.
“Essentially, there’s almost no business left with the city of Beaumont,” he said.
Nassar contends his client is a victim as well as the city and taxpayers. McKiernan has started up a new company, Nassar said, but the attorney would not supply the name.
McKiernan had not returned calls for comment by mid-afternoon Thursday.
“There is no money in it,” Nassar said of Urban Logic. “In fact, he’s out of pocket in trying to clean things up and finish up contracts. … He’s been cleaning up after these guys and he’s not being compensated for it.”
Nassar said he did not know the dollar figure of McKiernan’s losses.