Past Atlanta’s top economic official admitted guilt on Monday in a federal court case alleging that he used city funds to pay for two military-grade machine guns and tens of thousands of dollars for personal expenses.
Jim Beard, even accused of cheating on his income, appeared before a federal prosecutor in , Atlanta. He pleaded guilty to one count of national software fraud and one count of obstructing , IRS  , rules. He faces up to 13 years in prison.
Beard, 60, even agreed to pay an amount of compensation to become determined at punishment, set for , July 12. He has consented to renounce the handguns.
When asked by the judge to state what he was pleading guilty to, Beard said,” The ( theft ) charge basically states that I took money or property from the city of , Atlanta , or some other entity somehow related to the city.” The additional fee is that I deducted taxes that I had no authority to pay.
Prosecutor , Trevor Wilmot , said Beard used thousands of dollars in cash from , Atlanta, which had received national offers, to pay for the journey and weapon, which he kept for more than a year before abandoning them at the city’s police office. Beard’s traveling expenses included a three- day stay in a , Chicago , resort for his stepdaughter to enter a music festival and a trip with a companion to a jazz festival in , New Orleans, Wilmot said.
According to Wilmot, Beard falsely claimed to the city that he had not made any disclosures to the city on his annual income tax return for 2014, claiming that he had lost more than$ 33,500 in business as a result of his personal consulting business. He said the claimed business costs included$ 12, 000 in travel costs, some of which had been paid by the area.
On the fraud cost, Beard faces up to 10 years in prison, and on the tax command, he faces three times. He also faces up to$ 500, 000 in fines. Following the plea hearing, his counsel declined to comment.
Beard, the Atlanta CFO in past president Kasim Reed’s management, bought two , custom- built, totally automated rifles , with city money. He ordered the guns, fair almost$ 3, 000, in 2015 and received them the next time, records show.
His situation was portion of a yearslong , City Hall , problem probe , in , Atlanta , that brought many city leaders and companies before U. S. District Judge , Steve C. Jones. Eight accused were , sentenced to prison. The trial was scheduled to begin in May for Beard as the last respondent to stand trial.
Beard was  , indicted in , September 2020 , on three counts of wire fraud, two counts of federal software theft and solitary works of possessing a machine gun, falsifying an app or record and obstructing federal tax laws. As part of the plea deal, the prosecution dropped six of the costs.
The , appeal hearing , was scheduled , April 1, a few days after the judge denied Beard’s calls to eliminate facts that lawyers obtained from the town of , Atlanta, he also wanted to keep the system guns out of the court.
Beard claimed that he had never been charged with using the weapons, and that he had also attempted to curb information about how dangerous they were. According to records, the prosecution planned to reveal at trial why federal law usually restricts the use of machine guns to military personnel and law enforcement personnel and why the Atlanta Police Department, according to records.
The prosecutor also denied Beard’s attempt to suppress evidence of marriage, finding impact in the companions with whom Beard traveled at the state’s charge.
Beard used his town- issued credit cards for specific visits to , Chicago,  , Louisiana , and , Washington, D. C., according to his prosecution. He also used city funds on a , Chicago , hotel room so his stepdaughter could attend Lollapalooza in 2015 and 2016, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors claimed Beard used public money to stay at The St. Regis Atlanta hotel in , Buckhead, where he ordered hundreds of dollars worth of room upgrades, private dining and a “rose- petal turndown service” for him and his wife.
Beard, who earned more than$ 200, 000 annually as Atlanta’s CFO from 2011 to 2018, also paid for work trips on his city- issued credit card and then personally kept reimbursements he received from conference organizers, prosecutors alleged.
In 2019, Atlanta’s ethics division ordered Beard to pay more than$ 100, 000 in fines and restitution. In , April 2022,  , an insurance company paid the city , about$ 84, 000 as restitution for Beard’s improper use of his city- issued credit card, which had , prompted an audit.
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