ATLANTA – Former Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his role in a multi-year scheme to obtain money and property from the city for private use.
Beard, 60, who now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., also must serve three years of supervised release after completing his prison sentence.
While running the city’s finance department from 2011 until 2018, Beard used city funds to pay for personal luxury travel expenses, bought items for personal use including two machine guns, pocketed reimbursements he received for travel to conferences instead of giving them to the city, and falsely claimed business deductions on his taxes for a non-existent consulting business.
In total, Beard stole at least tens of thousands of dollars from the city, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan Buchanan.
“Jim Beard abused the trust and confidence placed in him by the people of the city of Atlanta when he decided to steal … from taxpayers to support his lavish lifestyle,” Buchanan said. “Beard’s sentencing is a demonstration of our commitment to hold accountable public officials who trade their position of power for greed and personal gain.”
Beard, who was sentenced Tuesday, pleaded guilty to the charges last March. He also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and restitution of more than $177,000.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service, with the assistance of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.