White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series: Brent Cassity, Author, Public Speaker, Host of Nightmare Success Podcast on Zoom, Mar. 19, 2024, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT.
We were honored to have Brent Cassity as the March speaker in our White Collar Support Group™ Tuesday Speaker Series. Open to all!
Brent Cassity is an engaging storyteller that has a real-life transformational story. Everyone has built up prisons in their minds. Brent loves speaking to audiences about the 5 strategies he used to survive prison. These tools are excellent to use for your life and business!
Brent is the author of the Book Nightmare Success: Loyalty, Betrayal, Life Behind Bars, Adapting, And Finally Breaking Free: A Memoir. He is the host of the popular podcast Nightmare Success In and Out. He is energized about his new Non-Profit Reentry Company, Nightmare Success Solutions. Brent was a CEO of Forever Enterprises, a national family company, which he grew from a regional company to operating in 22 states. He has been recognized by the national media; TIME, CNN, FORTUNE, Forbes, WALL STREET JOURNAL, cover story of ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT to name a few. HBO even did a documentary The Young and the Dead that spawned the popular HBO Series Six Feet Under.
Just when he thought he had it all, he lost it all and found himself standing at the Gates of Leavenworth to serve a 5-year sentence. What happens when your worst fear becomes your reality? He has coined the phrase “Nightmare Success” because everything you want is on the other side of fear. How did the one thing that Brent most feared…the one thing he said would never happen to him…happen?
To reach Brent Cassity: bdc@brentcassity.com
Sponsored by Progressive Prison Ministries/White Collar Support Group™. Start Here™. https://prisonist.org
White Collar Support Group™ 400th Meeting, Mon. Feb. 19, 2024, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT. Info at Http://prisonist.org
We highly recommend Brent Cassity’s podcast, Nightmare Success, in which he interviews justice-impacted people from all walks of life. He is a White Collar Support Group member with a mission to be of service to our community. Please check it out on Spotify at or on your favorite podcast platform.
WEST PALM BEACH, FL, February 13th: Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc., the world’s first ministry devoted to serving people prosecuted for white collar crimes and their families, will hold its 400th weekly White Collar Support Group™ meeting online on Zoom this Monday, February 19, 2024, 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT. It is open to those directly justice-impacted only. Newcomers should register at prisonist.org/contact.
Co-founded by husband and wife, ordained minister and white collar attorney, Jeff Grant (Jeffrey D. Grant, Esq.) and Lynn Springer in Greenwich, CT, the White Collar Support Group™ held its first meeting online in 2016. Since then, over the past 8 years, the support group has had over 900 participants from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Israel, South America and the Caribbean.
Progressive Prison Ministries’ goal is to provide practical information, and spiritual and emotional support, to those who are feeling alone, isolated, and hopeless while navigating the white collar criminal justice system. Its objective is to provide guidance in finding a path to a healthy, reinvented life on the other side of what may seem like insurmountable problems.
Meetings are held online weekly on Mondays on Zoom beginning at 7 pm ET, 4 pm PT and last approximately 75 minutes. Each meeting is centered on a relevant topic such as preparing for prison, family issues, finances, careers after prison, conquering fear, mental health and substance abuse, etc. Members are given the opportunity to reflect on and share their experiences, to ask questions, and are encouraged to embrace group newcomers. The support group continues to grow with each weekly gathering.
“The White Collar Support Group™ ’s purpose is bring people out of the isolation that is destroying them, and into a supportive community that provides solutions. At the end of the day, if we can help people untangle themselves from their myriad problems and find a clear path to a successful, productive and joyous life, that’s a success story,” said Grant. “We have found that things go much easier, and better outcomes can be reached, when people with white collar criminal justice issues reach out to us early in their journeys – when they make us their first call – before they’ve made too many mistakes and used up too much of their precious resources. It’s the reason why, to celebrate our 400th meeting and the beginning of our ninth year, our new outreach initiative is called, ‘Start Here™’,” Grant added.
White Collar Support Group™ Deputy Director William Livolsi (Bill) agrees. Livolsi pointed out, “we don’t give advice; we share our collective experience. We have hundreds of support group members who give of themselves freely and share their time and resources with each other. It’s a beautiful, and extremely helpful, way to learn, grow, and get through the most difficult times of families’ lives.”
The support group and community have been featured in many national and regional media, including the New Yorker, Entrepreneur,Reuters, Forbes and Greenwich Magazine, as well as major podcasts such as The Rich Roll Podcast. Grant has also been a Main Stage presenter at prestigious conferences such as The Nantucket Project. In addition to being a popular interviewee, Grant has helped thousands of his community members navigate their past and push towards re-establishing themselves as productive contributors to society.
With both Law and Master of Divinity degrees, Grant provides a unique perspective of understanding about what community members are coping with and facing ahead of them. Grant himself spent almost 14 months in a Federal prison for a white collar crime he committed in 2001. In 2021, Grant’s law license was reinstated by the New York Supreme Court (GrantLaw.com).
According to Evan Osnos, writer/reporter for The New Yorker, “Jeff Grant is the real deal… I can’t imagine there is a lawyer in this country more qualified to consider the complex issues facing people prosecuted for white collar crimes and their families.”
Former Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who served time in a Federal prison and is a member of the White Collar Support Group™ , said, “the group is a network of welcoming, non-judgmental, and understanding men and women who share their similar experiences in an open and nurturing environment.”
Complementing the weekly meetings is a blog on the ministry’s widely regarded site, prisonist.org, where materials are published for community members to learn more about white collar criminal justice issues. Its White Collar Week podcast has also become a critical source for this community, providing a platform for sector experts and for those that have gone through the journey. Guests have included current and former politicians, financial executives, white collar criminal defense attorneys, federal agents, judges, Hollywood producers and more.
About Progressive Prison Ministries: Established in 2013 in Greenwich, CT, Progressive Prison Ministries is the world’s first ministry devoted to serving people prosecuted for white collar crimes and their families. More information is available on its website at prisonist.org. Start Here™.
There is little doubt that Nike’s tag line, Just Do It, has been an incredible success. There is hardly a person in any corner of the world that doesn’t recognize it, identify it with Nike, and relate it to a healthy, athletic lifestyle of hard work, sweat and dedication to better themselves.
For a few years, our ministry and White Collar Support Group™ have used the tag line, We Can Help. Similar to Nike, our branding has been an overwhelming success – reaching out to people and families navigating the white collar criminal justice system and offering them a safe space where they can move from the isolation that destroys us, into the solution of community. Where they could be welcome with no judgment, get accurate information about their criminal justice journey, find sanctuary to share, learn, network and make important relationships, laugh at ourselves a little, and grow together to find new lives of dignity, joy and success. All freely offered by our volunteers.
And we knew that the key to this move was to be the first call, the point of entry, for people who have white collar criminal justice issues and lead them to the promised land on the other side of their legal issues. Before they made the mistakes that we all made. Before they ran through their precious resources that they desperately needed and need to navigate these shark-infested waters. To be the first call.
This was a revelation that things had changed, and we had to change along with them. We’d grown up, we have more experience than anybody, and we are now universally recognized as the leading authority in this sector. The world, and Google, recognize us as owning the term “White Collar Support Group™”. Of course they do. We are the first, the longest running, the biggest and the most helpful. And in order to be of service to our community, and consistent with our mission to reach out to others like us suffering in silence, we felt compelled to move from the passive voice of the branding of We Can Help, to one that is stronger, more powerful, and more authoritative.
We knew we needed to stand up, be bold, and be proud of all we’ve accomplished together. To take important positions, to advocate for them, and to dedicate ourselves even more to changing the world. And we wanted to just do it in conjuncture with our 400th White Collar Support Group™ meeting that we will host on Feb. 19, 2024 (Please join us).
I was psyched. We all were.
So, while lunching a few days ago at a new Asian Fusion restaurant here in West Palm Beach, I was explaining this concept to Lynn (for those of you who don’t know, Lynn Springer is my wife, partner, and co-founder of our ministry) and I could hardly control myself. My arms were waiving, the Pad Thai was flying everywhere. Lynn listened attentively (as she is wont to do) and then confidently, knowingly leaned forward (as she is wont to do) and told me she had it! She had our new tag line and branding.
Start Here™.
That was it! Start Here™. Hard stop. It was such a powerful statement. In two words it encapsulated everything we stood for, everything we wanted, everything we needed, everything we worked our butts off to achieve over the past eight years. And in the spirit of less is more, boiling it down to two words was masterful. A stroke of genius. Start Here™ was it!
We finished up our lunch, drove quickly home, and I got on the phones. We have it, we have it! And every single group member I spoke with agreed. Start Here™ was perfect.
So, my dear friends and Fellow Travelers, there you have it. Start Here™ is our new tag line and branding. Start Here™ is us. Start Here™ is what we believe in. Start Here™ is our big, bold statement of how we aspire to be of highest, best use to our white collar community. And Start Here™ is our vision for a bright, successful future for us all.
And, to get to this future full of hope and promise, all we have to do is one simple, but critical, thing: Start Here™.
*PS, thank you Lynn, thank you Nike and thank you to all of you for eight wonderful years.
We held a lunch and learning session with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the U.S. Pardon Attorney to raise awareness about the impact of restitution, share how restitution for many is a “life sentence,” and advocate for commutation of restitution. After our session with the NACDL, the NACDL contacted attorney David B. Smith, Esq. (a recent White Collar Week speaker) based on our recommendations.
David Smith and Jim Felman drafted the Fairness in Restitution Act. The NACDL Board approved the FIR Act. Two weeks ago, we received the final version (now available for review). Our supporters are currently the NACDL, The Federal Defenders, and Progressive Prison Ministries.
I am the legislative committee chairwoman of the campaign and have worked extensively with David Smith and the NACDL. Elise Roper is the Remission Now chairwoman. Cassandra Cean-Owens and Roxanne Jackson are invaluable members of the legislative committee.
We are all members of the Remission Now Campaign, and we are serving a “life sentence” due to oppressive and unfair restitution requirements.”
Bios:
Tanya R. Pierce, MBA: is a co-Founder of the RemissionNow campaign and was appointed by Dr. Topeka K. Sam, Founder of The Ladies of Hope Ministries (LOHM), to lead the strategic and legislative planning. Tanya is the Founder of Life Unbolted, which supports people impacted by the federal carceral system. She created the Young Adult Initiative (YAI), a peer-led training, mentoring, coaching, and accountability cohort-style training for federally impacted individuals aged 18-24. The program collaborates with the U.S. District Court – Eastern District of New York (EDNY) Special Options Services (SOS) Program. In 2022, she received the Department of Justice (DOJ) Token for participating as a credible messenger in the U.S. Attorney Office EDNY Inaugural Reentry Simulations and Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) contracted Residential Reentry Center (RRC) Forum. She was a contributing Stakeholder of the Coordination to Reduce Barriers to Reentry: Lessons Learned from COVID-19 and Beyond: Report to Congress from the Reentry Coordination Council: April 2022.
Tanya has over 20 years of experience in real estate development. She holds a certificate in paralegal studies from CUNY Queens College, a certificate in JTC: Python Coding 3.9 from Columbia Business School. She is a NY Certified Peer Specialist. Tanya is a vocal federal criminal justice reformist.
Roxane Jackson: Roxanne is a dynamic and accomplished professional with a vibrant, engaging personality. She received her formative education in the Chicago Public Schools. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from National Louis University in Evanston, Illinois, and obtained her law degree from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Jackson has amassed over (30) years of senior management and human resources experience with numerous not-for-profits and Fortune 500 companies, such as FOX, L’Oreal USA, Mars Inc., and Omar Medical Supplies.
Her engaging demeanor gives her the ability to captivate, teach, and entertain audiences with her infectious enthusiasm, unique delivery, and thought-provoking content. Roxanne is currently the Midwest Regional Director of a national organization. Roxanne is building coalitions in the Midwest to address legislative changes needed to provide true second chances to those impacted by the criminal justice system.
Elise Dixon-Roper: a co-founder of the RemissionNow campaign, was a managing partner in a small minority law firm in Chicago when she was indicted in 2012 for mail fraud. Prior to her sentencing, Elise had practiced law for 20 years. In 2015, Elise was sentenced to 15 months, serving 9 months in Lexington, KY. In 2021, Elise reached out to Dr. Topeka K. Sam, Founder of the Ladies of Hope Ministries (LOHM) to see how she could help her and several of her friends with restitution. The Fairness in Restitution (FIR Act) is a result of this group’s perseverance in trying to help the thousands of people who are stuck in a life sentence due to restitution. Elise is currently an Operations Manager for a consulting/insurance firm in Chicago. Her main goal now is to obtain remission and to help pass the FIR Act.
Cassandra Cean-Owens: a co-founder of the RemissionNow Campaign and former litigation, transactional, and managing attorney was sentenced to 87 months in federal prison, resulting in her disbarment by the New York State Bar. Her release to home detention in May 2020 amidst the COVID pandemic ignited her passion for criminal justice reform. Cassandra, now under federal supervision, is deeply committed to contributing positively to society. During her time at Danbury Federal Prison Camp, she instructed legal research and writing classes, founded the prison’s law library, and crafted the curriculum for the United States Department of Labor Legal Secretary Apprenticeship Program. Cassandra’s multifaceted life includes serving as a licensed practical nurse on weekends, a Sunday School Bible Teacher for adults, and a former chaplain for the New York City Police Department. She co-designed Columbia Law School’s Paralegal Pathway Program and serves as its program Ambassador, reflecting her unwavering commitment to making a meaningful difference in the world. Cassandra resides in New York with her husband Isaih R. Owens, Esq., and nine-year-old daughter.
Background Restitution is intended to be a compensatory, not punitive, component of a defendant’s sentence after a conviction. Too often, however, the restitution imposed is unfairly onerous, disproportionate to the harm actually caused by the person, and unsupported by evidence. Even after a person has served their prison sentence, many restitution orders make it difficult for a person to start their life again, to care for their family and dependents, and even to make the required restitution. Many people who have served short sentences for crimes are burdened years and even decades later by restitution requirements. Restitution can become a “life sentence.”
Summary The FIR Act would improve federal restitution law by: Ensuring fairness, proportionality, and accuracy in the amount of restitution owed.
Require that the Government show actual loss sustained by a victim as a direct and proximate result of the defendant’s actions.
Eliminate joint and several liability and ensure that defendants are only responsible for compensating harms they themselves caused.
Hold an evidentiary hearing for proving or disproving the amounts included in a restitution order. Preventing restitution obligations from becoming overly onerous or lengthy.
Change the statutory period of liability to pay a fine from 20 years to 10 years and preventing extensions, which current law does not allow for but were sometimes permitted by courts.
Allow courts to consider the economic circumstances of a defendant so that defendants are not burdened with unfair and unrealistic burdens.
Prevent the seizing or garnishing of wages, benefits, or certain other amounts if it would leave the defendant assets that would qualify them for the appointment of counsel under federal guidelines.
Allow defendants to petition for a change in their restitution order if their economic circumstances change.
Allow defendants to keep small amounts of money made outside of wages and benefits, such as small gifts or inheritances. Helping victims recover while also helping defendants avoid burdensome debts.
Require that any amounts collected by the Government first go to satisfaction of a restitution order, in cases where both restitution and forfeiture are required.
Allow settlements of outstanding restitution obligations which would guarantee an amount of restitution for victims while removing a burden from the defendant.
Exempt any reduction in restitution amount owed from being counted as income for income tax purposes.
White Collar Week Tuesday Speaker Series: Glenn E. Martin, Entrepreneur, Activist & Founder of JustLeadershipUSA, GEMtrainers and GEMrealestate, on Zoom, Sept. 12, 2023
We were honored to have Glenn E. Martin as the September speaker in our White Collar Support Group Tuesday Speaker Series. Open to all!
For over two decades, Glenn E. Martin successfully founded and directed a handful of national organizations in the non-profit sector. Glenn has occupied the role of “visionary”, while developing a strong track record in the more pragmatic aspects of building and running successful organizations, including fundraising, operations, administration, and communications.
Before launching both GEMrealestate and GEMtrainers, a multi-state real estate investment company and a successful non-profit consultancy, respectively, Glenn founded and served as President of JustLeadershipUSA, an organization he built as a tribute to his son Joshua, dedicated to cutting the U.S. correctional population in half by 2030. For over 20 years, since leaving prison, he’s been a part of the vanguard of successful reform advocates in America. Glenn has a quote that he coined in prison in 2000 that guides the work of GEMtrainers:
“People closest to the problem are closest to the solution but furthest from POWER and RESOURCES.”
Since launching GEMtrainers, Glenn has served as a confidential, trusted advisor and strategic thought partner to leaders driving social justice change. From fundraising, organizational development, and crisis management to the development and implementation of multi-year strategic plans, Glenn brings almost 25 years of leadership and operational experience to the table.
His leadership has been recognized with multiple honors, including the 2016 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, the 2017 Brooke Astor Award, and the 2014 Echoing Green Fellowship. He is also a Founding Member of the Council on Criminal Justice. Prior to founding JustLeadershipUSA, Glenn was the Vice President of The Fortune Society, where he founded and led the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy. He also served as the Co-Director of the National HIRE Network at the Legal Action Center, and co-founded the Education from the Inside Out Coalition. He’s also the founder and visionary behind the #CLOSErikers campaign in NYC.
Glenn has served as a public speaker and has been a media guest appearing on national news outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Al Jazeera and CSPAN. You can follow him at @glennEmartin on Twitter.
But my fears had less to do with the tragedy at the World Trade Center and more to do with the fact that, after 10 years of rampant prescription opioid abuse, my business was failing. I was searching desperately for an out. Meanwhile, the television and radio were blaring with ads for 9/11 FEMA loans administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
So, on an especially bad day, I lied.
I said I had an office near ground zero. I received the SBA loan I requested, and immediately paid down the personal credit cards I had run up while waiting for the SBA money. Even so, the loan did little to stop my spiral into drug addiction, mental health issues, marital problems and magical thinking.
In 2002, I resigned my law license and started on the road to recovery. But it all caught up with me about 20 months later, when I was arrested for the misrepresentations on my loan application. I served almost 14 months at a Federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering.
My objective in writing this piece is to offer some insight on what business owners should consider before they take out disaster loans. Certainly, the majority of people requesting these loans are honest and upstanding entrepreneurs who have immense need for the aid, and will use the funds properly. I am very glad there is help for them. That said, history has shown us again and again that when people are in dire need, they’re more prone to make impulsive, ill-advised decisions. My hope is that sharing my experience will help others avoid the consequences I faced. Here are seven takeaways.
1. Desperate people do desperate things.
There were thousands of fraud prosecutions after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, and so on. Why? Whether because of overwhelming business issues, poor personal judgment, or just plain bad luck, people were wounded, desperate and willing to do anything, anything, to stop the bleeding. But if the wound is too deep, a Band-aid is not sufficient.
Practice point: In any situation, behaving desperately is unlikely to save your business.
2. Beware of the belief that rules are suspended in times of emergency.
The government is advertising that huge amounts of money are available to save our businesses. I recently sat in on a webinar run by a very reputable business consulting group that recommended that attendees get their SBA disaster loan applications in immediately, regardless of the facts or the actual needs of their business — they said we could always modify our applications prior to taking the money. State unemployment websites are actually giving instructions, in writing, on how to mislead and circumvent the system in order to get approved. Don’t take the bait! If you default two years from now, this “good-meaning advice” won’t matter to prosecutors.
Practice point: Be truthful at all times.
3. Beware of magical thinking.
This is a tough one because entrepreneurs are inherently optimistic. We believe that things will always be better tomorrow than they are today. It drives us, makes us successful, informs our risk-taking. But in times of trauma, that voice can be an entrepreneur’s worst enemy. Does this sound familiar? We have learned the hard way that there is no shortcut, and yet we desperately want there to be one right now.
Practice point: Instead of immediately reaching for a bailout or other quick fix, develop a good solid business plan. Maybe a disaster loan will fit into this plan; maybe it won’t.
4. This paradigm shift will affect all small to mid-size businesses.
We are in the midst of a massive reordering that has already had a huge effect on small and mid-sized businesses. Business owners are being called to closely examine if our business models are still viable, or if we must pivot to new ways of doing things. Example: the Swiss watch industry completely missed the shift to digital watches. Have we waited too long to have a robust online presence? Are our products or services even needed anymore? Have we been holding on by a thread for years, unwilling or unable to look at the hard facts?
Practice point: Get real, now. Don’t borrow money to save a business that can’t be saved.
5. Be cautious when borrowing from the government.
As is the case with any loan, the devil is in the details. The terms and covenants in the loan documents dictate what you can or can’t do with the money once you get it. You can only use the funds for the purposes you stated in your application — that is, to pay operating expenses of the business to keep it afloat until it starts bringing in sufficient revenue again. You (and your spouse) will probably have sign for the loan personally, and will probably have to pledge all available collateral, including a second (or third) mortgage on your house. If you maxed out your personal credit cards while anticipating your disaster relief funding, you can’t use the money to pay off your cards.
Practice point: Read the terms and covenants of the loan closely. Whatever the loan terms say to do, do, and whatever they say don’t do, don’t do. No exceptions.
6. We can’t save our businesses and our lifestyles at the same time.
Here’s the big trap. We have mortgages, car payments, school tuitions, and other personal expenses that have to be paid, and soon. But simply put, SBA loans are meant to save your business, not your lifestyle. Discuss all your options with advisors and friends you trust — ones that will tell you the truth! It’s like going to the doctor. Your diagnosis will only be as accurate as the history you provide. These are trying times, with a triage system designed to be more expeditious than thorough.
Practice point: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Borrowing money comes with responsibility and accountability.
7. Get acquainted with acceptance.
I hope we are all great entrepreneurs who can figure out ways to make our businesses survive and flourish. But let’s face it. Some of our businesses will not make it, even with the infusion of government funds. What should we do? We can pare down, embrace change and do things differently as we start a new chapter. Never forget that there will always be opportunity to start again, and to live a fuller, more abundant life.
Jeff Grant is on a mission. After a hiatus from practicing law, he is once again in private practice and is committed to using his legal expertise and life experience to benefit others.
Jeff provides a broad range of legal services in a highly attentive, personalized manner. These include private general counsel, white collar crisis management, strategy and team building, services to family-owned and closely-held businesses, and support to special situation and pro bono clients. He practices in New York and on authorized Federal matters, and works with local co-counsel and criminal defense counsel to represent clients throughout country.
For more than 20 years, Jeff served as managing attorney of a 20+ employee law firm headquartered in New York City and then Westchester County, New York. The firm’s practice areas included representing family-owned and closely-held businesses and their owners, business and real estate transactions, trusts and estates, and litigation.
Jeff is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, and in the Federal District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York City Bar Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Steal Money from the Feds? First, Meet Jeff Grant, an Ex-Con who Committed Loan Fraud, by Erin Arvedlund: Link to article here.
Hannah Smolinski YouTube: Thinking About PPP Fraud?: Hannah Interviews Jeff Grant About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud. Link to article and YouTube video here.
Fraud Stories Podcast with Mark Lurie: SBA/PPP Loan Fraud with Guest: Jeff Grant. Link to podcast here.
Forbes: As Law Enforcement Pursues SBA Loan Fraud, Jeff Grant Talks Redemption, by Kelly Phillips Erb. Link to article here.
Taxgirl Podcast: Jeff Grant talks Desperation and Loans in a Time of Crisis with Kelly Phillips Erb on Her Podcast. Link to article and podcast here.
Business Talk with Jim Campbell: Jeff Grant Talks with Jim About Going to Prison for SBA Loan Fraud and What to Know When Taking Coronavirus Relief Money, Biz Talk Radio Network, Broadcast from 1490 AM WGCH Greenwich, CT. Listen on YouTube here.
Babz Rawls Ivy Show: Babz Rawls Ivy & Jeff Grant Talk SBA / PPP Loan Fraud and 7 Things to Know Before You Take Coronavirus Relief Money, WNHH 103.5 FM New Haven. Watch on YouTube here.
Also: White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 09: Small Business Edition, with Guest Kelly Phillips Erb. Link here.
Also, White Collar Week with Jeff Grant, Podcast Ep. 21: All Things SBA, PPP & EIDL, with Guest Hannah Smolinski. Link here.
Join more than 5,000 anti-fraud professionals gathering in Nashville and online. Now in its 33rd year, the ACFE Global Fraud Conference is the world’s largest conference for fraud fighters looking to go beyond all limits.
After nearly two decades without practicing, Jeff Grant got his law license back this May.
He served over a year in prison for lying about office space to get federal relief money after 9/11.
He then went to seminary and opened a ministry serving white-collar defendants.
Jeff Grant started his law career the way many young lawyers would dream of starting. He launched his own firm shortly after graduating from New York Law School in 1981 and grew it, first in Manhattan and then in Westchester County, adding employees and clients. He served as outside general counsel to two large real-estate companies and kept adding staff.
But then the cracks appeared.
After rupturing his Achilles tendon in a basketball game in 1992, he was prescribed opioids for pain relief. He said he quickly became addicted and continued to take them daily for the next decade.
He made a habit of borrowing money from his clients’ escrow accounts to cover payroll, which he was in danger of not paying because of his personal spending habits and inattention to the business.
And after the attacks on September 11, 2001, he lied about his office location on an application for a low-interest Small Business Administration loan. He wrote that he had a satellite office just a few blocks from ground zero, but he had only an agreement with another firm in that building to use a conference room, which he had never used. He received a $247,000 loan and used it to cover personal credit cards, which he said were used to keep his firm afloat, and other personal expenses.
A New York attorney grievance committee launched an ethics investigation into his misuse of client funds, while federal prosecutors initiated a criminal inquiry over the loan.
Grant was disbarred in December 2002, five months after surrendering his legal license. He pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2006. In the interim, he went to rehab, and he said he has stayed sober since.
On the road to recovery
He served nearly 14 months in a low-security prison, where he attended services for a range of religions: Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam. After he was released in 2007, Grant spent a couple of years volunteering. Then a friend recommended he attend seminary. Grant was hesitant.
“I was a Jewish kid from Long Island,” he said. “I didn’t even know what it was.”
But he enrolled in Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, earning his master of divinity in 2012. He accepted a position as an associate minister later that year in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and later became an ordained minister in an Independent Catholic church (not affiliated with Roman Catholic). He said he was also baptized as a Protestant and still identifies with Catholicism, Protestantism, and Judaism.
In 2013, he and his wife founded Progressive Prison Ministries in Greenwich, Connecticut. He says it’s the world’s first ministry helping people prosecuted for white-collar crimes. His work came to include mentoring, career counseling, and spiritual support.
But something was missing, he said.
He said that while he loved doing “the good work,” it could get frustrating. The people Grant ministered to always had legal questions, he said, but he was barred from giving legal advice.
In 2018, he decided to try to get his law license back.
‘Light at the end of this crazy tunnel’
Grant submitted a motion for reinstatement to the New York State Bar at the beginning of 2019 that included a tell-all, 10,000-word narrative of how he’d unraveled his life and then worked to put it back together.
The committee on character and fitness investigated him — lawyers need to show remorse and prove that they’ve changed and are trustworthy and honest in order to be reinstated — and recommended his approval in October 2020. But a state court still needed to officially OK it.
Every day for the next several months, Grant checked to see if his name appeared on the court’s docket.
Then, on May 5, Grant saw it: He was a lawyer again, effective immediately.
He hasn’t struggled to find work since, he said.
Grant says he’s one of the very few practicing attorneys who have been prosecuted and incarcerated for white-collar crimes. His clients seek him out because of his past, he said.
“It brings hope and comfort that there actually might be light at the end of this crazy tunnel,” he said.
Some of his old clients even gave him a shout when he shared the news that he had his license back, asking for him to represent them once again.
Four decades after graduating from law school, Grant says he feels content.
“This might be the first time in my life where I feel like I’ve arrived at where God needs me to be,” he said.
_________________________
Jeffrey D. Grant, Esq.
GrantLaw, PLLC, 43 West 43rd Street, Suite 108, New York, NY 10036-7424
Now again in private practice, Jeff is an attorney and counselor-at-law providing private general counsel, legal crisis management, and dispute strategy and management services to individuals and families, real estate organizations, family-owned and closely-held businesses, the white collar justice community, and special situation and pro bono clients.
For over 20 years Jeff served as managing attorney of a 20+ employee law firm headquartered in New York City, and then Westchester County, NY. Among other practice areas, the firm engaged in representation of family-owned/closely held businesses and their owners, business and real estate transactions, trusts and estates, and litigation. Jeff also served as outside General Counsel to large family-owned real estate equities, management and brokerage organizations, in which role he retained, coordinated and oversaw the work of many specialty law firms, including white collar defense firms.
Private General Counsel/White Collar Crisis Management
GrantLaw, PLLC, Jeffrey D. Grant, Esq., 43 West 43rd Street, Suite 108, New York, New York 10036-7424, (212) 859-3512, jgrant@grantlaw.com
Now again in private practice, Jeff is an attorney and counselor-at-law providing private general counsel, legal crisis management, and dispute strategy and management services to individuals and families, family-owned and closely-held businesses, the white collar justice community, and special situation and pro bono clients.
For over 20 years Jeff served as managing attorney of a 20+ employee law firm headquartered in New York City, and then Westchester County, NY. Among other practice areas, the firm engaged in representation of family-owned/closely held businesses and their owners, business and real estate transactions, trusts and estates, and litigation. Jeff also served as outside General Counsel to large family-owned real estate equities, management and brokerage organizations, in which role he retained, coordinated and oversaw the work of many specialty law firms, including white collar defense firms.
Today we have a Great Dude in Fraud. Jeff Grant is a true story of an unexpected life. From being a lawyer to going to prison for SBA fraud related to 9/11 and now getting back his law license. I think you will find this episode fascinating on many levels. Jeff’s podcast, White Collar Week, and his support group has become such a community for people that never thought this could happen to them. Please take a listen and let me know your thoughts. As Jeff says,” It’s the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community.” Spot on.– Kelly Paxton
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Kelly Paxton is one of my very favorite people, a shining light in the often dark world of fraud investigations. I was thrilled when she asked me to be the guest on her podcast, Great Women of Fraud – link to podcast here. We go deep into the relationship between criminal defense attorneys and experts, and how to present a client’s best case to prosecutors. Get out a pen and a pad folks, you’re going to want to take notes.- Jeff
Kelly and fellow investigator & friend Brian Willingham were recent guests on our White Collar Week Podcast, link here.
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Great Women in Fraud is a podcast to help those working in fraud. Hosted by Kelly Paxton, Certified Fraud Examiner, Private Investigator, and Pink Collar Crime Expert. Kelly is a former special agent turned investigator specializing in embezzlement and workplace dishonesty cases. Great Women in Fraud interviews outstanding fraud professionals so you can continue to move forward in your career. Origin stories, tips, resources are just some of the amazing fraud content you will hear each Tuesday. Be sure to check out www.greatwomeninfraud.comfor even more information.
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Jeffrey D. Grant, Esq.
GrantLaw, PLLC, 43 West 43rd Street, Suite 108, New York, NY 10036-7424
After an addiction to prescription opioids and serving almost fourteen months in a Federal prison (2006 – 07) for a white-collar crime he committed in 2001 when he was a lawyer, Jeff started his own reentry – earning a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, majoring in Social Ethics. After graduating from divinity school, Jeff was called to serve at an inner city church in Bridgeport, CT as Associate Minister and Director of Prison Ministries. He then co-founded Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. (Greenwich, CT), the world’s first ministry serving the white collar justice community.
On May 5, 2021, Jeff’s law license was reinstated by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
Now again in private practice, Jeff is an attorney and counselor-at-law providing private general counsel, legal crisis management, and dispute strategy and management services to individuals and families, real estate organizations, family-owned and closely-held businesses, the white collar justice community, and special situation and pro bono clients.
For over 20 years Jeff served as managing attorney of a 20+ employee law firm headquartered in New York City, and then Westchester County, NY. Among other practice areas, the firm engaged in representation of family-owned/closely held businesses and their owners, business and real estate transactions, trusts and estates, and litigation. Jeff also served as outside General Counsel to large family-owned real estate equities, management and brokerage organizations, in which role he retained, coordinated and oversaw the work of many specialty law firms, including white collar defense firms.
Licensed Private Investigator, Social Media Intelligence Analyst
K Paxton LLC, Principal
Kelly Paxton has more than 20 years of investigative experience. Kelly is a Certified Fraud Examiner, Private Investigator, author, and podcast host-founder of Great Women in Fraud.
Ms. Paxton started her career in law enforcement as a Special Agent for US Customs Office of Investigations in 1993. Ms. Paxton was recruited by US Customs for her expertise in finance. She worked white collar fraud, money laundering and narcotics cases. She also was responsible for the district’s undercover operations and financial reporting of these operations. Kelly worked as a contract investigator doing over 1000 security background investigations for the Office of Personnel Management and Department of Homeland Security.
Kelly has worked in the public and private sector. Most recently she worked as an investigator for Nike. Her investigations include embezzlement, conflict of interest, intellectual property, Open Source Intelligence and fraud. Kelly is also the proud owner of pinkcollarcrime.com, a passion of hers about embezzlers in the workplace. She founded Great Women in Fraud in August, 2020. Her book, Embezzlement How to Prevent, Detect and Investigate Pink-Collar Crime, was published in December, 2020.
