Gregg Johnson is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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I found the White Collar Support Group in July, 2021, 8 months after my ordeal began. Prior to finding the support group, I was afraid & alone. Jeff’s group brought me peace, comfort & camaraderie. I realized I wasn’t alone & that others were going through a journey similar to mine.
The weekly meetings gave me something to look forward to…a sense of purpose. Both to hear & provide insight as everyone is there to learn & to teach. I only had 2 months of meetings before beginning to serve my sentence, but I look forward to re-joining the weekly meetings upon my release.
I know my journey is long from over, but I won’t be going through it alone… Jeff & his support group will be there for me, just as I will be there for every member of the support group! I’m fortunate to have found this support group to walk through this journey with.
Fred A. is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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I was a little late to the Group, having first heard about Jeff Grant and the White Collar Support Group after reading the article in the New Yorkerthis past summer. Not only did the article pique my interest in the Group, but I also saw that Jeff had been able to get his law license back after being disbarred. My law license had also been suspended in connection with my criminal conviction, so I reached out to Jeff seeing if he could give me some advice on applying for reinstatement to the New York State bar. Not only did he immediately answer my email and provide me with some extremely helpful pointers, but we also set up a Zoom call where we learned that we grew up in the same town on Long Island and had many friends and acquaintances in common. Jeff invited me to join the Group, and I am glad I accepted the offer as it has given me the opportunity to help others who are going through this process, while also helping myself.
My path to this point has been fairly long and quite arduous. However, to most of those in the Group, my story is quite common. I had been served with a subpoena from the SEC in February 2011 concerning a major client. The SEC sued my former client and me in October 2011, with the lawsuit leading to a full-blown criminal investigation. I was indicted and arrested at home at 5:50 AM by 8 heavily armed FBI agents in April 2012. Had I been a member of the Group, I would have been better prepared for this entire process. Instead, my family and I suffered through 5 years as my criminal and civil cases dragged along parallel tracks. I eventually settled with the SEC in 2014, and on the eve of my criminal trial, pled guilty to one count of being an accessory after the fact to a securities fraud conspiracy. My civil penalties were over seven figures, while my criminal sentence was 14 months with six figures of restitution. I consider myself fortunate since my sentencing guidelines were for 30 to 60 months. Nevertheless, I entered FCI Otisville Camp on May 31, 2017 having no idea what to expect. Again, had I been in the group, I would have been able to avoid most of the pitfalls that awaited me when I reported for my 328 days at Otisville.
I got out of Otisville in April 2018, and completed a year of Supervised Release the following June, but I am still wrestling with many post-incarceration issues, including restitution, professional licensing, and some emotional issues. Getting the chance to meet with other people who are in a similar situation has given me the opportunity to address some, if not all, of these issues. It has also provided me with a positive outlook on the future, a perspective on my past, and a knowledge that things are getting better for all of us.
What I’ve found in the Group is a diverse gathering of individuals who are seemingly on the same continuum of the criminal justice system, but at different stages in the process. Each person has their own story to tell of what has or is still happening, and how it has harmed their life and their family. But, while each one is unique with his or her own particular nuances, each experience I heard has resonated with me. There is something in each member’s life story that triggered a memory from my own criminal justice experience. Things like the FBI raid of my home, the delays in the process, the fear of the unknown going into sentencing or reporting to prison, the everyday challenges of incarceration, and the issues of reintegrating into society. There is so much familiar, and so much I had unwittingly suppressed, if only to get through each day. It is like each of us has our own, unique story of how we have been impacted by the criminal justice system, but collectively we are one, with so many commonalities in the process, the emotions, and the damage. It made me realize that the only way to get through this, the only way to make sense of this, the only way to effect change is to do it together in a group like the White Collar Support Group. I give Jeff and the other members a great deal of credit for putting the Group together and keeping it going for 300 meetings.
So if you think that hearing from one person who has been or is going to be incarcerated, you’ve heard all you need to know about the criminal justice system, then you are wrong. But it’s actually the other way around. In order to fully grasp this situation, you need to hear from everyone can in order to get a clear understanding of the situation. The White Collar Support Group gives us the opportunity for this necessary sharing of experience. So, if you’ve heard them all, then you’ve heard one.
Timothy Litzenburg is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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Jeff’s catchphrase “It’s the isolation that destroys us; the solution is community,” might be the perfect explanation of the human experience. I think everybody has become more acutely aware of this in the last two years.
Those of us in recovery from substance abuse have been aware for some time. The World tends to push us in the direction of isolation, for some reason; it encourages us to keep our problems to ourselves, to marinate in some level of shame and guilt, and not to ask for help or offer it. And everything positive in this life has at least a slight tendency to dissolve those barriers.
No matter what you are going through, no matter how extreme or unique or shameful you are convinced it is, others are going through the same thing, and still others have successfully gotten through it. Sometimes they are just down the street, or sometimes they are all across the country and on a Zoom meeting on Monday nights. God bless Jeff and his group, it is a tremendous source of help and relief to so many defendants, convicts and families.
Debbie Colbourn is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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I am an outlier in the group, not because I’m in Canada or that I am woman, but in the fact that I have not been part of the criminal justice process despite having taken money that wasn’t mine to take from an employer. Yet I suffered for over twenty-five years from the biggest thing that those who’ve made a decision to do something we knew at the time was wrong, do.
Despite our inner voice screaming at us. Overwhelming shame and guilt.
Only five people in the world knew what I had done, two lawyers, my parents, and the owner of the company. Plus me.
I represent a large number of people, women in particular, who crossed both an ethical and legal line, who had “good” careers, made OK money, lived in a normal home, came from a loving family, no history with abuse or addiction. And our $ amounts are in the five or low six figure amounts – not in the millions. Still very wrong – still punishable by a jail term.
I repaid every penny to my employer but I could never find a way to move past the shame, and guilt, and the lack of trust I had in myself.
In my path to growing my business and leaning into my potential I have let my nudges, my gut instinct guide me and one week a post from a lady who had a group for wives of women whose husbands had committed a white collar crime and a podcast episode by a man named Jeff Grant who’d been a lawyer that had gone to prison and rebuilt a life on a completely different path, showed up.
I cannot tell you what Jeff said on Rich Roll’s podcast, but I reached out to the lady with the group and asked if she knew him – weird hmm?? Yes, I’ll introduce you.
And a week later there I was, terrified of where the Pandora’s box that I’d just opened would lead – yet I knew it was the right next step. The every Monday night meeting of the White Collar Support Group.
I was as intimidated as hell by the people on the Zoom call. People I’d read about in the media. People who were used to making in two weeks what I made in a year. I felt dumb. Like they were somehow better than me. Yet as I listened quietly, something I no longer do, I realized that although they, the men, use different words, different phrases, most were struggling with debilitating shame and guilt. Struggling to stop the voice in their head berating them on how friggin’ stupid they were.
Each week one phrase, one deep emotion shared, one roadblock or obstacle shared by someone can take the conversation in any number of directions, but it’s always something that someone needs to hear at that moment.
The group has grown and now has a couple of people who can chat confidentially with you if you’re thinking joining the group might be the next step you (or someone in your family) needs.
Sometimes it takes only a few meetings to help you move forward, sometimes it takes years. There are people at all stages. And people are there for you 24/7/365 – when you simply need to not feel alone. Like you’re the only one going through what you are, or feel the way you do. – Debbie Colbourn, Calgary, Canada
Jeff Krantz is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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I cleared the obligations of my prosecution five years prior to coming to the White Collar Support Group. I had navigated the legal aspects of the ordeal relatively successfully, receiving three years probation and having paid down my fine and restitution a month after my sentencing. Nonetheless, as time passed, I found myself becoming increasingly isolated and I struggled with navigating day-to-day life.
There are some Mondays when I’m running late and not particularly enthused about logging on to the weekly meeting. I rush to make dinner, get it on the table and log on by seven. Most nights I make it in time for “announcements and resource sharing”. Sometimes I don’t appear in my rectangle until the topic leader has started to speak. I’ll do an initial scan across my screen to see who’s on the call while I settle in for the next hour. In short order, my resistance has dissipated and I’ve become absorbed as the meeting proceeds. When new people introduce themselves, they identify where they reside in the process: whether they are being investigated, soon to be sentenced, or are facing a report date. Often they are short of resources and information and desperate for a life line that will give them some guidance on how to proceed forward. Others arrive better provisioned or they are past the legal mechanics of their ordeal. The bottom having come out from under their lives, they seek comradeship and guidance to cope with the long term fallout of their ill considered choices. The twenty to thirty or so participants who join the weekly group represents the continuum of experiences had by those engulfed in the realm of white collar crime. Each one at some point or another has either sought or gained the support of the group and similarly, purely in being present, each person showing up provides support and comfort to those who arrive at the group in need.
The meeting has wound down and Bill is speaking. As always, he’s a fount of information, delivered in a low-key, self-effacing manner. Sun-je, the last to speak, is tuned into the message of the night’s speaker, as he sums up the overall vibe of the evening. The session comes to a close, Jeff thanks everyone in attendance and reminds them of the Spiritual Urgent Care meeting on Thursday morning. It’s 8:15 and we all wave as one by one we disappear off of our respective screens.
Over the week, I text Jeff to see if he has some time to chat about a justice-related non-profit organization with a promising job opportunity and whose vetting process has proven to be challenging to navigate. We speak for a while later in the day and his counsel is pragmatic and helps to take some of the weight of the frustration off of my shoulders. Later in the week, Craig and I meet in Brooklyn for coffee. We both live in New York and have been talking about getting together to meet in person but I’ve also sought him out to get his advice on building a writing practice. Finally, I called M to talk about her plea. She knows that the deal is fundamentally a good one but it bothers her that she doesn’t have an option but to take it. She knows that my circumstance was similar to hers and we spend 40 minutes or so venting about the unfairness of our respective situations with at least half of that time laughing at the absurdity of it all.
The week closes out with planning for next week’s meeting already having begun. Texts and emails fly steadily back and forth while queries and articles get posted up on Slack. The group is active throughout the week, riding atop the myriad crests and troughs of victories and setbacks. A steady flow of information keeps things moving irregularly, but undeniably forward, the inexorable benefit of people supporting each other, bringing us all a little more into ourselves. – Jeff Krantz, NYC
Join Evolution’s team of justice impacted family members for our first meeting on Thursday, Feb. 3rd via Zoom from 7:00pm ET – 8:00pm ET for a brand-new support group dedicated to supporting family members of incarcerated men and women… you are no longer alone in your personal journey while your loved one is navigating through the criminal justice system.
Feb. 3, 2022
Thursday Evenings from 7:00 pm ET – 8:00 pm ET via Zoom
Do you have a loved one incarcerated or going through the criminal justice system? If yes, then join us Thursday, Feb. 3rd for our first online support group devoted to supporting justice impacted family members, one family at a time. Lead by family members who are walking in your shoes, we understand the needs and isolation that often comes with having a family member navigating the criminal justice system. You are no longer alone!
Tony T. is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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I am currently sitting at FCI Morgantown, a prison camp in West Virginia, finishing a 41 month sentence for wire fraud.
When I first found out I was being investigated, I was literally frightened beyond words. What was going to happen, what would happen to my family, my kids, my life. After finding Jeff and the White Collar Support Group, I first watched and listened, and then fully joined in. ALL the things I learned about my next few years of my life, what will happen next, what to do, what to ask and what to expect, I learned through the group. Not only did this group become my community, it’s members became my family.
I am now 97 days from finishing my journey and was told today that because of the First Step Act, I will go straight to probation. I never thought I could get through this process and, without the group, I don’t know if I could have. I am so grateful.
Attorney and minister, Jeff Grant, is this week’s guest on the Energy Stoners(TM) Cafe Podcast. He discusses his journey from successful lawyer, to opioid addiction, to convicted felon to minister. Jeff is now the founder of prisonist.org, the world’s first ministry serving the white collar crime community. After years of recovery and self-discovery and ministry, Jeff Grant is finally reinstated as a lawyer and continues his ministry. His story is truly enlightening and inspiring.
Jessica L. is a member of our White Collar Support Group that meets online on Zoom on Monday evenings. We will celebrate our 300th meeting on March 14, 2022, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
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When I received a target letter from the United States Government stating that I was under investigation and would soon be indicted on federal felony charges of blah blah blah (read terrifying)- I crumbled. Thankfully I had my own office at work, because I was in the fetal position under my desk, sobbing.
I remained in the fetal position in one form or another – until I found Jeff’s group: White Collar Support Group. When I first found it after fervently googling desperate pleas like “help me not go to federal prison,” I was leery. I had already contacted prison consultants who appeared first in the searches. These people wanted thousands of dollars that I didn’t have. They told me I would surely receive a conviction of years and needed their help to receive the best sentence possible.
Progressive Prison Ministries was different. At my first meeting Jeff kindly welcomed me, introduced men and women who had been in my shoes, or were strongly standing in them with me. I wasn’t alone anymore. My daily crying sessions ceased. I started to think clearly again. The group was pivotal in helping me put things into perspective. I listened, and began to trust members who said “no matter what happens, it will not be as bad as you imagine it will be”.
I remain in the midst of my case, but I am not suicidal now. I have my head held high and I will walk through the next months and years with grace. I know this group will support me, and non-judgmentally be there for me. The fear is lessening, and for the first time in 3 years since this nightmare began, I feel a glimmer of hope. – Jessica L., Massachusetts
The group has been instrumental in my journey, and I’m grateful to be a part of it.
We have people on the call at pretty much every point in their justice journey.
From just indicted to being out of the system for over 20 years.
This is just one aspect of the group that makes it so powerful.
Multiple perspectives.
When one of our members is set to report to prison, we’ll dedicate the call to them and share our collective wisdom so we can prepare them as much as possible.
There is one piece of advice that stands out amongst the rest:
For the first couple of weeks in prison, be an observer.
Nothing more.
If a group of inmates is sitting next to you trying to come up with the name of the movie starring Russell Crowe set in ancient Rome, do not, as badly as you want to, interject with the answer.
Sit and observe.
Observe the inmates, decipher who’s a trouble maker and who’s not.
Observe the CO’s, decipher who seems to treat the inmates with a modicum of respect, and who to steer clear of.
Observe the unwritten rules of prison life so you can navigate your time as smoothly as possible.
Observe.
It took going to prison and being a part of the support group to understand that this piece of advice is not just for prison.
It’s for each and every one of us and the lives we’re living.
It’s too easy for our lives to be set on autopilot, to get so wrapped up with egotistical things, careers, money, cars.
The millions of little acts we do every day/week/month/year to keep our lives moving forward.
We don’t get into the habit of standing back and observing our lives and inquiring,
“Am I fulfilled?”
“Is something missing?”
“Is what I’m doing serving me?”
In order to create the lives we want to create, we need to understand the lives we’re living.
We do this by stepping out of the rushing river and observing the river.
Try to be an observer in your own life; you might surprise yourself.
