ATLANTA – The Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former member of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents Thursday with defrauding at least 100 investors in a now-bankrupt energy development company.
Dean Alford, who also served in the General Assembly, fraudulently raised at least $23 million on behalf of Allied Energy Services LLC from 2017 to 2019, according to the SEC’s complaint. The investors, primarily Indian-American professionals, were guaranteed high annual rates of return.
The alleged scheme collapsed last year when Alford failed to make promised interest payments to several investors and then failed to repay the investors’ principal.
Alford resigned from the Board of Regents last October. About two weeks later, 39 investors filed a civil suit accusing him of running a $6 million Ponzi scheme.
“As alleged in our complaint, Alford was a prominent member of the community who misled retail investors for personal gain,” Justin Jeffries, associate regional director for the SEC’s Atlanta Regional Office, said Thursday. “Investors should be wary whenever they are promised guaranteed, lucrative investment opportunities.”
According to the complaint, Alford presented Allied as a successful business when in fact it was struggling. He claimed investors’ funds would finance energy projects while using most of the money to make interest payments to earlier investors and for personal expenses, including a multimillion-dollar home.
Without admitting or denying the allegations, Alford consented to entry of a judgment finding that he violated the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. He also agreed that the amount of civil penalties will be set by the court at a later date.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a prominent civil rights leader, served 33 years in Congress before his death on July 17, 2020. (Official U.S. House photo)
ATLANTA – Three former U.S. presidents said goodbye to civil rights icon John Lewis Thursday, culminating a weeklong series of ceremonies honoring the Atlanta congressman who died July 17 of cancer at age 80.
Lewis’ funeral took place at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, where Lewis mentor Martin Luther King Jr. once served as pastor.
Former President Barack Obama described Lewis as “perhaps [King’s] finest disciple,” carrying forward King’s message of non-violence after the civil rights leader was slain in 1968.
“He not only embraced that responsibility,” Obama told Lewis’ mourners. “He made it his life’s work.”
During the last week, Lewis’ flag-draped casket traveled to many of the sites where he made his mark as a young civil rights leader and, later, as a congressman for 33 years.
Last Sunday, a day after he was honored with a ceremony in his hometown of Troy, Ala., Lewis made a final trip via a horse-drawn carriage over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. That’s where he suffered a fractured skull when he was beaten by state troopers while leading a voting rights march in 1965 on a day that has come to be remembered as “Bloody Sunday.”
He returned to the bridge many times over the years to commemorate that day, telling the political leaders who accompanied him on those trips that he fully expected to die at the head of that march.
“It’s important to remember that,” former President Bill Clinton said in eulogizing Lewis Thursday. “He was there on a mission that was bigger than personal ambition.”
On his way to become the first Black American to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda earlier this week, Lewis’ procession swung by the Lincoln Memorial, where he was the youngest speaker at the March on Washington in 1963, where King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.
Finally, Lewis’ casket lay in state at the Georgia Capitol, where he was honored by Gov. Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Wednesday.
At Thursday’s funeral service, Republican former President George W. Bush said while he and Democrat Lewis had many political disagreements over the years, they were without animosity. The two worked together in planning the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 2016.
“In the America John Lewis fought for and the America I believe in, differences of opinion are evidence of democracy in action,” Bush said. “We live in a better and nobler country today because of John Lewis.”
Former President and Georgia native Jimmy Carter and current President Donald Trump did not attend Thursday’s funeral.
At age 95, Carter is not traveling. However, he sent written condolences that were read during Thursday’s service by the Rev. Raphael Warnock, Ebenezer Baptist’s current pastor.
Trump and Lewis were not on good terms. After questioning Trump’s legitimacy as president in light of Russian interference in the 2016 election, Lewis did not attend the Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
ATLANTA – Initial unemployment claims filed in Georgia declined last week to 84,984, down 37,329 from the previous week, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The labor agency paid out $778.1 million last week, including not just regular state unemployment insurance but funds from other state and federal unemployment compensation programs created to help offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
That brought to more than $11 billion the total payout by the labor department since mid-March.
“As additional claims are being filed, we have been able to maintain an impressive ratio of eligible claims filed to payouts,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said. “Record-breaking payout rates represent a new standard for this department as we strive to better serve Georgians.”
Of the total payout during the past 18 weeks, the state agency has issued more than $7.7 billion in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) funds. The FPUC, which provides an additional $600 weekly payment to jobless Georgians, is due to expire at the end of this week unless Congress extends it.
U.S. Senate Republicans have proposed reducing the payments to $200 per week following complaints from some business owners that laid-off employees they want to rehire are reluctant to come back to work. Democrats are pushing to retain the weekly payments at $600.
Since March 21, the job sector accounting for the most regular unemployment claims in Georgia is accommodation and food services with 787,469 claims. The health care and social assistance sector is second with 390,018 claims, followed by retail trade with 359,438.
More than 122,000 jobs are listed online at EmployGeorgia.com for Georgians to access. The labor department offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume, and assisting with other reemployment needs.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s film industry remains among the world’s leaders despite the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on film and TV productions.
Business Facilities Magazine has named Georgia No. 1 in its new Film Production Leaders category in its annual 2020 Rankings Report, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Thursday.
The magazine’s recognition of the Peach States comes soon after news that Georgia-lensed productions have received nearly 50 Emmy Award nominations.
“Our production numbers show Georgia was on pace for another record year for film before COVID-19,” Kemp said. “They confirm that Georgia continues to lead the way in film production.”
Despite the shutdown of film productions last spring in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the 234 film and television productions that filmed in Georgia during the last fiscal year spent $2.2 billion in the state. That was down from $2.9 billion in fiscal 2019 and $2.7 billion in fiscal 2018.
Film productions are just now starting to ramp back up, with at least 20 currently in production or filming prep in Georgia.
The Georgia Film Office unveiled a “best practices” guide for filming in May to help discourage the spread of COVID-19, based on input from officials with studio and production companies that maintain a presence in the state.
“We are continuing to welcome productions back to Georgia and get our incredible crews and film teams back to work,” said Lee Thomas, the state Department of Economic Development’s deputy commissioner for film, music and digital entertainment.
The Emmy nominations for Georgia-lensed productions announced this week include “Watchmen,” “Ozark,” “Stranger Things,” “Love is Blind,” “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: These Broken Bones,” and actor Jason Bateman for “The Outsider.”
HBO’s limited series “Watchmen” and Netflix’s hit series “Stranger Things” also earned Peabody Awards in June.
A new poll shows Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are tied in Georgia.
ATLANTA – President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are locked in a tight race for Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, according to a poll released by Monmouth University Wednesday.
A random statewide sample of 402 registered Georgia voters taken between July 23 and July 27 found Trump and Biden tied with 47% of the vote. Three percent said they will vote for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen, and another 3% were undecided.
“There is a lot of parity between the two candidates,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute. “Trump has a lock on his base, but Biden is performing much better than [2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary] Clinton did in key swing areas.”
Trump carried Georgia by 5 points in 2016, continuing a Republican run of success in presidential elections in the Peach State that began in 1996.
But Democrats gained ground in 2018, capturing a congressional seat in Atlanta’s northern suburbs and posting victories in several state House districts in suburban areas of metro Atlanta. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams lost to Republican Brian Kemp two years ago by a narrow margin.
According to the Monmouth poll, Biden is showing strength in those same areas, holding a 58% to 38% lead in 14 swing counties, including Gwinnett and Cobb, where the vote margin was closest between Trump and Clinton in 2016.
Trump is dominating among white voters, while Biden enjoys overwhelming support among Black voters. Biden also holds a sizeable lead among independents, 53% to 21%.
Meanwhile, Republicans are leading in both of Georgia’s U.S. Senate races. U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who is seeking a second six-year term, holds a 49% to 43% lead over Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff, according to the Monmouth poll.
In the other Senate contest, incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler leads with 26% of the vote, compared to 20% for U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville. Among Democrats, attorney Matt Lieberman – the son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut – had 14% of the vote, with the Rev. Raphael Warnock polling 9%.
Loeffler, appointed by Kemp last December to succeed retired Sen. Johnny Isakson on an interim basis, was trailing in earlier polls. However, the Atlanta businesswoman has hit the airwaves in recent weeks with a flurry of ads, both praising her accomplishments since taking office in January and attacking Collins.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in November, the top two vote-getters would move on to a runoff in January.
On another issue, 63% of respondents to the Monmouth poll said cities should be able to establish their own rules for wearing masks that are stricter than statewide regulations. Kemp is suing Atlanta officials for imposing a mask-wearing requirement inside the city.
More than 3 in 4 voters (79%) supported requiring people to wear masks indoors in public places when they come within six feet of other people.
The poll’s margin of error was plus-or-minus 4.9%.
