Former Atlanta CFO sentenced to three years in prison

By DAVE WILLIAMS, Capitol Beat News Service

ATLANTA – Former Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his involvement in a multi-year plot to obtain city money and property for personal use.

Beard, 60, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will also have to serve three years of probation after serving his prison sentence.

While leading the city's finance department from 2011 to 2018, Beard used city funds to pay for private luxury trips, purchased items for personal use, including two machine guns, pocketed conference travel reimbursements instead of giving them to the city, and falsely claimed business tax deductions for a nonexistent consulting firm.

In total, Beard stole at least tens of thousands of dollars from the city, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan.

“Jim Beard betrayed the trust of the people of Atlanta when he chose to steal from taxpayers to fund his lavish lifestyle,” Buchanan said. “Beard's conviction is a testament to our determination to hold public officials accountable who trade their positions of power for greed and personal gain.”

Beard, who was sentenced on Tuesday, pleaded guilty to the charges in March last year. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and more than $177,000 in restitution.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the IRS with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.