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ATLANTA (AP) — The former chief financial officer for Atlanta pleaded guilty on Monday to stealing money from the city for private journey and guns and making an attempt to cheat the federal authorities on his earnings taxes.
Jim Beard, 60, pleaded guilty to one rely of federal program theft and one rely of tax obstruction in federal court docket in Atlanta.
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U.S. District Judge Steve Jones is scheduled to sentence Beard on July 12. Beard may face as many as 13 years in jail however is probably going to be sentenced to considerably much less underneath federal pointers.
The former chief financial officer for Atlanta has pleaded guilty to stealing money from the city for private journey and guns and making an attempt to cheat the federal authorities on his earnings taxes.
Beard served because the city’s chief financial officer underneath Mayor Kasim Reed, managing Atlanta’s financial sources from 2011 to 2018. Beard is the tenth individual to be convicted in an anti-corruption probe into Reed’s administration. Most of the others have been convicted on fees of giving or taking bribes for city contracts. Reed himself has by no means been charged.
During his time in workplace, Beard used city money to pay for private trips and to illegally purchase two machine guns for himself, he admitted in his plea settlement.
Federal prosecutors stated Beard stole tens of hundreds of {dollars} from the city, though the plea outlined about $5,500 in thefts.
That contains spending over $1,200 for his stepdaughter to spend three nights in a Chicago lodge room throughout an August 2015 music competition. Beard stated he was there to focus on rates of interest on city debt.
Beard additionally admitted to shopping for two custom-made machine guns from Georgia producer Daniel Defense in 2015, paying $2,641.90 with a city verify. Beard had claimed the guns have been for the Atlanta Police Department — it is usually unlawful for civilians to possess machine guns within the United States — however he saved them till he left them in 2017 on the police division workplace overseeing the mayor’s safety.
He additionally spent $648 on airfare to New Orleans to attend the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April 2016, later deducting the identical expense from his earnings taxes by telling the IRS it was for his private consulting enterprise. Beard additionally double-dipped by charging the city practically $1,000 in journey bills to a New York assembly with a bond regulatory company and then getting the identical company to reimburse him $1,276.52.
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Beard additionally claimed $33,000 in losses from his consulting enterprise on his 2013 earnings tax return, with the IRS in the end permitting him to deduct $12,000 in enterprise journey bills he by no means spent.
Under the plea, Beard is giving up his declare to the guns and is agreeing to pay again numerous entities together with the city of Atlanta.
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