Trump rejects clemency for former Atlanta CFO Jim Beard

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Jim Beard

ATLANTA - President Donald Trump denied clemency on July 10 to former Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard, who was convicted of embezzling city funds and falsifying tax records under former Mayor Kasim Reed. 

The backstory:

Beard was one of several Atlanta City Hall officials that were federally investigated under the Reed administration.

He ran the city's Department of Finance from 2011 to 2018. However, court documents revealed that at least as early as 2015, Beard began executing a scheme to abuse his authority as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to obtain money and property from Atlanta for his own personal use.

Beard used city funds to pay for thousands of dollars in personal travel expenses for himself, his family, and his travel companions. He also used his position to illegally buy and possess restricted machine guns.

Officials added that Beard submitted a personal income tax return to the IRS claiming that he had a business that had more than $33,500 in alleged losses in 2013. While being audited over those claims in 2015, Beard reportedly gave the IRS receipts that he had claimed were personal business expenses. Instead, investigators said the expenses had been paid to him while he was working for the city and using the credit card the city had given him.

In April 2024, Beard pleaded guilty to charges of federal program theft and obstructing an IRS audit. Later that year, he was sentenced to 36 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution of more than $170,000 and a fine of $10,000. 

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