President Donald Trump has denied clemency for two former City of Atlanta officials convicted of federal corruption, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In a list provided by the department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, Mitzi Bickers, 59, and Jim Beard, 62, will not see their commutation applications move forward as of July 10.
The daughter of a former civil rights leader and founder of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Bickers worked as the director of human services for former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed for several years. Her responsibilities included running city programs to help the homeless and distributing federal and local funding to homeless shelters.
In 2018, she was the first of half a dozen former officials to go to trial after an investigation into corruption during Reed’s administration.
Prosecutors accused the former Atlanta executive of using her position to launder roughly $17 million in business to city contractors Elvin “E.R.” Mitchell Jr. and Charles P. Richards Jr. in exchange for more than $2.9 million in bribes, which was used on luxurious purchases such as a $775,000 home in suburban Atlanta, vacations and a $46,000 Denali luxury SUV.
On Sept. 8, 2022, Bickers was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty on charges including money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery. In addition, she was ordered to pay nearly $3 million in restitution to the city and to serve three years of supervised release once she’s out.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Bickers is currently serving her sentence in FMC Lexington in Kentucky, where her release date is scheduled for March 22, 2032.
Beard, the chief financial officer for the City of Atlanta during Reed’s administration from 2011 to 2018, was indicted in 2020 on charges including wire fraud, theft from the government, possession of machine guns, making a false statement and obstructing federal tax laws.
According to prosecutors, Beard used his position to charge luxury trips to a city credit card, double-dipped on travel reimbursements, cheated on his taxes and used the auspices of the city police department to buy a pair of custom-built machine guns otherwise unavailable to civilians.
On Aug. 28, he was sentenced to three years in prison, three years of supervised release following his prison term and restitution of $177,197, plus a $10,000 fine.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Beard is currently serving his sentence in RRM Miami, where her release date is scheduled for Aug. 14 of this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
