Greenwich Time: "These People Are Suffering." Group Offers Help To Innocent Families Of White-Collar Crimials

‘THESE PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING’

Group offers help to innocent families of white-collar criminals

By Robert Marchant, Reprinted from Greenwich Time, Friday. April 17, 2015

Rich, white people going to jail? Insert punch-line here.

The issue of white-collar crime and prison is typically presented in the popular culture as a target of comedy and derision, the subject of Hollywood films for generations. But to the Rev. Jeff Grant and his wife, Lynn Springer, it’s hardly a laughing matter.

Grant is a former corporate lawyer who fell into an addiction to painkillers and liquor, and he served 14 months in a federal prison on a business-fraud conviction. He and his wife of six years, Springer, established an organization based in Greenwich helping families coping with incarceration, The Innocent Spouse and Children Project. The couple, Weston residents, is planning various upcoming events, including a panel discussion on the issue of white-collar crime and the impact of incarceration on families that is in the works for later in the spring.

Springer has seen the devastation that can hit a family when a parent or loved one is sent to jail for embezzlement, fraud and other financial crime.

“It’s not an under-served community, it’s not even served at all,” she said. Springer said she has seen wives and children of white-collar prison inmates — with little knowledge of the social-service bureaucracy — struggle to pay for food and heating due to the asset-seizures by law-enforcement agencies that typically follow embezzlement and fraud cases.

“These people are suffering, and no one is advocating for them. In particular, for family members there’s the pain of exclusion, ostracism, a sense of shame,” Springer said.

Those who are sent to prison from the ranks of the upper-middle-class or wealthy, coming from professions in accounting, medicine or law, are also worthy of “compassion and spiritual comfort,” Springer said.

Rehabilitation and redemption are the other goals of the organization. “We feel we are in the business of hope,” Springer said. Grant ministers to a congregation in Bridgeport after earning a divinity degree, and he lectures and writes on the subject of transformation and new beginnings.

Specifics of the panel discussion Springer and Grant are organizing are still being formulated. Springer will be joined by other panel members who know the subject of incarceration inside and out. A screening of a Woody Allen film, “Blue Jasmine,” which centers on a character whose husband is a corporate swindler, is being planned.

One expected guest on the panel to discuss the topic of crime, punishment and redemption is one of the most famous examples of corporate crime in recent years, Dennis Koslowski. The former CEO was convicted in 2005 for stealing nearly $100 million from the Tyco corporation, and he served over six years in jail. Koslowski recently gave an interview to The New York Times about his new life as a free man, after he was allowed to leave “the gated community I used to live in.”

He told the newspaper: “I was piggy…. But I’m not that person anymore.”

The Innocent Spouse and Children Project, and a related organization, The Progressive Prison Project, are based out of Christ Church Greenwich on East Putnam Avenue.

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Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org

(m) 203-339-5887

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Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) 203-536-5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org
(203) 609-5088

Jim Gabal, Development
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(203) 858-2865

Babz Rawls Ivy, Media Contact
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(203) 645-9278  

__________

Donations

We are grateful for donations from individuals, religious groups, charities, foundations and the like. Donations can be made by credit card/PayPal or by sending your check payable to: “Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc.” P.O. Box 1232, Weston, Connecticut 06883. Progressive Prison Project/Innocent Spouse & Children Project are missions of Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. We are a CT Religious Corp. with 501c3 status - all donations are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Thank you for your support and generosity.

If transformation and redemption matter to you, a friend or a family member with a white-collar or nonviolent incarceration issue, please contact us and we will promptly send you an information package by mail, email or via Dropbox. The darkest days of a person's life can be a time of renewal and hope.

The Overturning of Insider Trading Convictions, By Brian Jorgenson - Guest Blogger, From Prison

Progressive Prison Project 

Innocent Spouse & Children Project 

Greenwich, Connecticut

The Overturning of Insider Trading Convictions

By Brian Jorgenson - Guest Blogger, From Prison

 

Upon our learning of the successful appeal overturning the insider trading convictions of  Todd Newman & Anthony Chiasson, we reached out to some members of our community most affected by the decision.  We published the first last week: Who Watches The Watchmen, by Anonymous - A White-Collar Felon.   We invite you to submit your thoughts & feelings on the subject.  

Our ministee Brian Jorgenson reported in September

 to the FCI Herlong Camp in California to serve

 a two-year sentence for a insider trading. Brian's two prior submissions to prisonist.org, Last Blog Before Prison 

and A Commentary on Psalm 85.2, were among our most well-read and well received posts ever.   Here are his thoughts from prison. - Jeff

_________________

Several days ago, two prominent convictions for insider trading (Chiasson and Newman) were overturned by the appellate court. While I don't have access to all of the intricacies of the case, my understanding is that the convictions were overturned based on where Chiasson and Newman were in the insider trading information chain. The court found that the onus was not on them to know that the information they were trading on had been illegally disseminated. Said another way, the two portfolio managers assumed they were merely trading on stock tips, not private, material, inside information. Whether they "really" knew or not, we'll likely never know but the burden of proof should be on the government so I applaud the convictions being overturned.

Here I sit in prison for one count of insider trading (securities fraud). Does this appeal have any impact whatsoever on my current situation? Unfortunately, no. And that's because in my case, the chain had only two links in it - the tipper and the tippee. I was the tipper meaning that I provided the information to someone else to profit, so these convictions being overturned will not affect my case in the slightest. It was my personal responsibility to not provide the information, just like it was the personal responsibility of my co-defendant to not trade on the information. Both of us were in the wrong and as a result, both of us are currently incarcerated.

I want to reflect on how my incarceration has been. Today marks exactly three months (~15 to go). Through it, I've met so many guys who have taken wrong turns in life. They (and I include myself in this group) tried to take shortcuts in order to get more money, power or control in their lives. Some are remorseful and ready to move on. Others continually beat themselves up over their past mistakes. Others remain indignant and counting the days until they can resume their illegal activities. Yet, they are currently all prisoners, alongside me. And all too aware of the uphill battles they face upon re-entering society: 
-Trying to figure out how to stay clear of the people and situations that got them incarcerated
-Attempting to get a job from an employer that hires felons
-Mending the broken and violated relationships that their incarceration has caused 
-Dealing with society and the lifelong stigma of being an ex-convict
-Ultimately, trying not to be part of the sad recidivism statisic: over 60% of inmates, re-offend and end back in prison

Before coming to prison, I will admit that I wasn't filled with empathy. But that has changed after being in here. The recidivism rate is daunting for so many of these guys. And it seems so overwhelming to try to get back on track. The government doesn't do much to help felons' re-entry efforts as members of society. The stigma is very real and so many doors will be closed for us for the rest of our lives due simply to checking a box on a form labeling us as felons. While I acknowledge that I will face my fair share of obstacles, I'm not overly concerned or anxious about it. I know that God has a plan for me. I know that my relationship with my wife and kids is on firm ground. I know that I have other family, friends, business associates, and a church family that loves me and supports me. I consider myself very fortunate and know that I won't be part of the recidivism statistic.

But I'm still angry.

This anger doesn't deal with me. It deals with the guys in here and the countless others who don't have the things that I've been blessed with. They will leave prison without a game plan and society has already branded them (us) as bad apples. I find this incredibly judgmental and hypocritical. I read an article in The Week earlier today where legal experts cited that "more than 70% of Americans have committed a felony that would carry a prison term if they were caught." Maybe it was mishandling a gun, maybe it was driving while being "buzzed", maybe it was gambling online, or maybe it was cheating on your taxes.

Nevertheless, the experts posit that more than 7 out of 10 people could have been imprisoned and labeled a felon IF they would have been caught and prosecuted. So here's the hypocrisy: those 70%+ know that they've done something that could've landed them in prison. The only thing separating them between the felons/ex-convicts that they are so quick to villify is pure luck. They weren't caught but the felons were. Yet, society turns its collective nose up and brands felons for life as being untrustworthy and not deserving of a 2nd chance.

It shouldn't be this way. Now, I'm not condoning any illegal activity but when you have a felon who is trying to turn his life around and he's unable to get loans to start a business or unable to get hired anywhere or not allowed to travel outside of the state to visit his family, then the system is stacked against him. This is partly why we have such a high recidivism rate. Even the "reformed" felons can't become good standing members in society because society doesn't ALLOW them to. They keep them at arm's length, at a safe distance away. In turn, the felons resort back to the only life they knew -- a life of crime which lands them in prison.

This is not a coherent post. I'm going off on a tangent here from where I started but it's where my stream of conscious thoughts have led me so I'll end on that note. 

You can read more blogs from Brian Jorgenson

 on his website, 

bjorgenson.com.

Mail for Brian can be sent to:

Brian Jorgenson, 44044-086
FCI Herlong – Satellite Camp
PO Box 800
Herlong, CA 96113 

____________

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
jg3074@columbia.edu

(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887 

Linked In Twitter  Facebook 

Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org

Michael Karaffa, Advocate, Disabilities
mkaraffa@prisonist.org

___________

 Comments from Social Media:

Who Watches the Watchmen? By Anonymous, A White-Collar Felon

Progressive Prison Project

Innocent Spouse & Children Project

Greenwich, Connecticut

 Who Watches the Watchmen?

By Anonymous, Guest Blogger 

& A White-Collar Felon

Editor's note: we had no idea how timely this blog would be when we posted in on Mon., Dec. 8, 2014.  Two days later (Dec. 10) a three judge panel overturned the insider trading convictions of Todd Newman & Anthony Chiasson, redefining the rules for prosecution of traders in "remote tippee" cases.  See Walt Pavlo's article on Forbes.com and Patricia Hurtado's article on Bloomberg.com. We'll are hopeful that this decision will add some sobriety to future of SEC prosecutions.  We'd like to think that God (along with great lawyers) played a large part in this groundbreaking decision. - Jeff

 

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We encourage our ministees to "develop a voice" on their road to health, redemption and a new life. They often start small, by anonymously publishing comments to other people's blog posts.  We are proud that this ministee finally felt compelled to speak out and honored that he trusted us enough to do so on prisonist.org. - Jeff

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In the wake of the grand jury failure to indict for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, we are called to consider the highly questionable relationship between prosecutors and the police.  But the oft-repeated, "a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich," mantra exists for a reason - that a prosecutor, should it be his or her sincere objective, can convince a grand jury to indict anyone or anything.  Even a ham sandwich.

Perhaps the grand juries did not indict the police officers in both cases not because of the evidence or lack thereof, but because the prosecutor manipulated the grand jury to not indict.  Given the generally codependent relationship between prosecutors and police, should the larger question and debate not be just over police violence, but prosecutorial misconduct?  Willful manipulation and negligence by prosecutors?

I am a felon.  Never had a single word carried so much meaning for me - the judgment of others, the passive presumption of a fair and objective justice system, guilt, shame, remorse, anger, and perhaps most importantly, release. The hope that I can fully unshackle myself from the notions that civil society would have me hobble in self-pity, encumbered by a scarlet 'F' for the rest of my life.

When the FBI first came knocking on my door, I picked the defense attorneys that most belittled my damaged ego and psyche.  Perhaps I felt secure in their arrogance.  I was scared.  I didn't think I was guilty of what I was being accused of, but I also feared a trial.  Society does not look kindly upon white collar criminals, and I had seen a few cases where I felt guilty convictions had been won on a surge of populist anger towards Wall Street vs. the facts.  I feared prison.

Little did I understand my lawyers had already made the decision for me.  I was to plead guilty with the implicit promise that I would never see the inside of a prison.  I protested, argued that I had lacked sufficient criminal intent to have known I was committing a white collar felony.  But my protests were met with resolute conviction from my lawyers that my case would be a surefire loser at trial, and that I would undoubtedly, unquestionably face up to 15 years' incarceration.  They had already made the choice for me by presenting outlandish scenarios appealing to my worst fears.

And so my life irrevocably transformed overnight.  The prosecutor was impressively clever, she had run circles around my counsel outthinking them at each step of the process.  At distinct moments through my proffer sessions, I noticed smirks of self-satisfaction from her - the kind one feels when they've bluffed their way to a win in poker.

In the later years of my business career, I had become callous and negligent in my job - a reflection of my own growing cynicism in Wall Street and dissatisfaction with myself.  Yet I somehow had faith that the 'Justice System' would be a different realm, one of fairness and truth, where prosecutors huddled in teams to debate the facts of potential prosecution giving in all cases, the benefit of the doubt.  After all, prosecutors are being dealt the hefty responsibility of playing God with others' lives.

I concluded this process allocuting a plea to a Federal Judge, professing guilt in cases where I knew I was innocent.  I remain stupefied at how I arrived there.  I equate it to slowly boiling a frog - that a frog would immediately jump out of boiling water but if the heat is increased ever so gradually the frog willfully neglects his own safety to his own demise.

I refuse to be bitter.  And ironically, I am remorseful and I do accept responsibility.  Not for the false pleas, but for my failed judgments leading up to and through the criminal justice process.  I chose, of course, to always interpret right and wrong as close to the line as possible.  To interpret right and wrong in the way that best suited my interests.  In some cases, I know that I crossed the line.  I chose to continue in an industry filled with narcissistic, quasi-psychopathic individuals, each year loathing myself a little more.  And I chose to pick defense counsel that appealed to my most ignoble insecurities and instincts for self-preservation.

The isolation in the aftermath of a criminal conviction is indescribable.  It's unclear who amongst family and friends knows, and it is hard to know how to behave - withdrawn and remorseful, or to put on airs of normalcy.  So many doors close - of course, the word 'felony' encompasses a wide range of delits - from stock option backdating & market manipulation on one end, to violent rape & pre-meditated murder on the other.  For an educated person, the closed doors of employment & any career requiring a professional license, including driving a taxi, is a crushing implosion of conventional hope.  I often went to bed praying for mercy from God that I would not awake the next day.  The sun arose, it seemed, to mock me, to provide hopes and opportunities only to snatch it away.  I prayed to melt away into the ether.  Frankly, sometimes I still do.

We have focused much on the remorse, acceptance of responsibility and re-entry of felons into society.  Let's not forget the sins of the prosecutors.  It is far more common that people are incarcerated for crimes they may have not actually committed as a result of plea bargaining because the unchecked power of the prosecutor allows no other option for the average individual.  So often it is the ordinary career ambitions of an underpaid prosecutor that compels him to focus solely on the notches on his belt, to apply the same relative morality against the individuals he prosecutes.  

It is an abuse of power.  The prosecutors are the watchmen in our society, but there is no agency watching over them.  So whether it is the willful intent of a prosecutor to manipulate a 'fail to indict' in Ferguson or a prosecutor willfully holding exculpatory evidence from a defendant - let us question our blind faith in the integrity of prosecutors.  

Because if we don't watch the watchmen, no one else will. 

- Anonymous, A White-Collar Felon

____________

Rev. Jeff Grant, JD, M Div, Minister/Director
jgrant@prisonist.org
jg3074@columbia.edu

(o) +1203.769.1096
(m) +1203.339.5887 

Linked In Twitter  Facebook 

Lynn Springer, Advocate, Innocent Spouses & Children
lspringer@prisonist.org
(m) +1203.536.5508

George Bresnan, Advocate, Ex-Pats
gbresnan@prisonist.org

Michael Karaffa, Advocate, Disabilities
mkaraffa@prisonist.org

___________

 Comments from Social Media: 

Hi Jeff
Too often we forget that some people are actually only guilty of really poor judgment rather than guilty of “evil actions”.  How many people in all walks of life have just pushed the envelope a little too far?  While incarcerated I heard many stories from other inmates about their own lawyer recommending a plea bargaining.  Also, too often the prosecutor wants a win for a notch on his belt and a winning score, while the person’s life (and his family’s) is being decided.  Play it safe and get out in a few years, rather than spend a decade or more in prison.  The fear of very long sentences behind bars being tossed around is enough to make a person (guilty or not so guilty) bend to the will of the court system.  This is not a question of innocence or guilt but rather a question of fairness in a system that seems to have lost it’s fairness.  Once someone said to me that because of incarceration that the rest of his life no longer has any smooth corners just sharp edges.  This is a sad comment on the current thinking of our society. - 
Barry S. Diamond, Reentrysurvivors.com