A former Nashville police officer filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court alleging he was fired for trying to expose corruption within the city police department.

Greg Hopfinger claims in the suit that he told then-mayor Raymond Koweir and City Council members Josh Fark and Eric Rolf about possibly illegal action happening in the police department.

A 16-year veteran of the police department, Hopfinger alleges in his complaint that Police Chief Brian Fletcher falsified state firearms qualifications records when he failed to obtain the required 20 hours of annual training, that he misappropriated funds donated to the department in the memory of fallen officers, and that he allowed the asset-forfeiture program to become non-compliant with the federal program.

Hopfinger further claims that Fletcher paid overtime to an officer who didn’t earn it, would claim 40 hours of work per week when he worked less, and had officers help him move furniture rather than monitor the crosswalk of an elementary school.

Court documents say five months after Hopfinger took his concerns to the then-mayor, Fletcher called Hopfinger and said he didn’t trust him anymore. Hopfinger was then fired in August.

He claims Fletcher then told people at a Nashville bar that he had fired him for a criminal matter.

Hopfinger alleges he was fired unlawfully, violating his First Amendment right of free speech and the right given to him in the Illinois Whistleblower Act to disclose information about his employer without being punished.

He’s also alleging defamation of character and a breach of contract for firing him without written charges and an opportunity to speak in his defense.