City of Atlanta’s Former Chief Financial Officer Sentenced to Prison for Federal Program Theft and Tax Obstruction

The City of Atlanta’s former chief financial officer (CFO) was sentenced today to 36 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $177,197.48 and a fine of $10,000 for abusing his position to steal public money and obstruct the IRS.

According to court documents, from 2011 to 2018, Jimmie Anthony “Jim” Beard, 60, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, oversaw the City of Atlanta’s Department of Finance, in which his primary responsibility was to manage the city’s financial condition. At least as early as 2015, Beard devised and executed a scheme to use his authority as CFO to obtain money and property from Atlanta for his own use, including to pay for thousands of dollars in personal travel expenses for himself, his family, and his travel companions, and to buy and possess restricted machine guns.

Further, while CFO, Beard submitted years of fraudulent tax returns in which he claimed personal business expenses to lower what he owed in taxes. During a 2015 audit of one of those returns, Beard lied to the IRS and obstructed auditors by submitting receipts for transactions that were actually paid by the City of Atlanta in connection with Beard’s official duties. The investigation later revealed that Beard had no personal business, and years of tax deductions were based on a lie. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia; Executive Director Michael Nordwall of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch; Special Agent in Charge Keri Farley of the FBI Atlanta Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Atlanta Field Office; and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alicia D. Jones of ATF Atlanta Field Division made the announcement.

The FBI, IRS-CI, and ATF investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Trevor Wilmot of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Garrett Bradford, Tiffany Johnson, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Davis for the Northern District of Georgia prosecuted the case.

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Source: Justice.gov