In August 2025, the Stockbridge City Council convened for a meeting, a sense of civic progress filling the air as Chief Trammer presented a significant donation. Mr. Jeff Grant, on behalf of Jodeco 158 LLC, was generously offering commercial office space at 1046 Chen Parkway Suite A for a satellite police precinct, at no cost to the city for a decade. Grant himself, present in the audience, spoke of the additional security system his company would install throughout the entire Jodeco project, with its recording system housed within the new precinct, available to detectives for investigating crimes and accidents. He emphasized the benefits of this enhanced security for the booming Jodeco Project, with Sprouts and Costco seeing impressive sales figures, and expressed his belief that this police presence was “almost a must” to deter potential problems and ensure the safety and security of residents.
However, the shadow of past misdeeds loomed over this seemingly benevolent act and its most vocal proponent. Jeff Grant’s extensive history with the law painted a stark contrast to his public generosity. Decades prior, in 1998, Grant was found guilty in Henry County, Georgia, on five felony counts, including three convictions for forgery and two for theft by deception, stemming from widespread fraud in the timber industry. He received a sentence of five years’ confinement and two years’ probation. Further, Grant was indicted under the Georgia Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for a pattern of racketeering activity from 1983 to 1990. This intricate scheme involved fraudulently obtaining timber, misrepresenting acreage, and selling timber at inflated prices by manipulating inventory books, forging contracts for timber not owned, selling contracts for non-existent land, and miscrediting timber to conceal previous thefts. He was specifically named in “Predicate Acts” for unlawfully taking property from Keadle Lumber Enterprises Inc. through checks and for filing false deeds in various counties, knowingly including fictitious entries or descriptions of land he did not own.
Jeff Grant’s financial dealings with Neighborhood Community Bank of Newnan (NCB) were marred by a pattern of misrepresentation, further complicated by the involvement of the law firm Smith, Welch, & Brittain, LLP. Between 2005 and 2007, Grant, a real estate developer, obtained multiple commercial loans from NCB to acquire and develop land for residential properties. However, in these transactions, Grant and his associated companies frequently misrepresented and overstated the land purchase prices in their loan applications. For example, in a December 2005 loan for Southern Lumber II, LLC, Grant’s company represented a purchase price of $1,992,011.66 for 41 acres, but the actual agreement was for $1,336,725.00, which was $673,275.00 less than the amount stated to NCB. Grant then used $400,000.00 of the unauthorized advance from NCB to cover the required certificate of deposit collateral, instead of his own funds. Similarly, for a March 2006 loan to Orchard Road, LLC, Grant used falsified contracts to overstate the land’s purchase price at $3.36 million, when the actual aggregate price was $2,637,650.00. The additional $722,350.00 advanced by NCB was used for unauthorized purposes and in breach of the bank’s commitment, with Grant again using a significant portion ($625,960.00) of these loaned funds for the certificate of deposit collateral. A May 2007 loan to West Panola, LLC also involved a falsified Sales Contract, misrepresenting a single seller purchase price of $1,060,000.00, when the property was actually acquired from two sellers for $770,600.00, nearly $289,400.00 less than represented. In this instance, the loan was funded entirely by NCB’s initial $864,000.00 advance, with no equity from Grant or West Panola.
Crucially, Smith, Welch, & Brittain, LLP, served as primary counsel for Jeff Grant and his companies in various legal matters and also represented NCB in closing these loan transactions. The law firm was responsible for preparing loan documents, disbursing proceeds, and adhering to NCB’s instructions, including the requirement for borrowers to provide equity for land purchases or certificates of deposit as collateral from their own funds. However, in the Southern Lumber II loan, the law firm created two conflicting Settlement Statements, one for NCB that falsely depicted the higher purchase price and the use of the borrower’s separate funds for the certificate of deposit. The firm did not inform NCB of Grant’s wrongful conduct, including the improper and unauthorized usage of loan funds, information considered critical for NCB’s decisions. Had NCB been aware of Grant’s misconduct in the Southern Lumber II and Orchard Road loans, it would have declined all future loan requests from him and his companies. Despite witnessing Grant’s wrongful conduct, the law firm continued to accept engagements to represent NCB in making additional loans to Grant and his companies. The FDIC later alleged that the law firm committed breaches of the standard of care by deviating from NCB’s closing instructions, preparing inconsistent settlement statements, failing to reject improper requests from Grant, making unauthorized disbursements, and signing HUD-1 Settlement Statements that falsely depicted higher misrepresented purchase prices.
Just as concerning was the enthusiastic endorsement from Elton Alexander, currently the city’s Mayor Pro Tem and the District 5 council member. Alexander lauded the donation as a “perfect example of public-private partnerships that work,” and a “manifestation of where we’re trying to go”. Yet, Alexander himself was no stranger to abusing his public office for personal gain. In 2016, as a city councilman, he visited Arick Whitson’s BBQ Masters restaurant, ordered $60 worth of food, and refused to pay, stating, “I thought you wanted to do business with the city?” before leaving without settling the bill. What followed was a year-long vendetta against the restaurant owner, Arick Whitson. Whitson was harassed by city code enforcement officers, faced difficulties obtaining essential permits (liquor, signage, building), and Alexander even filed false complaints with the Henry County District Attorney’s office, alleging Whitson was on the National Sex Offender Registry and abusive to women. This culminated in a federal lawsuit, settled out of court for $1.7 million, with the city’s insurer paying $1.2 million to Whitson. Despite this, Alexander denied wrongdoing and claimed he did not support the settlement.
Public officers are trustees and servants of the people, entrusted to manage public property for citizens’ benefit, and are legally obligated to carry out their duties free from self-interest, bias, and undisclosed conflicts of interest. Elected officials are (or should be) held to a higher standard and must avoid actions that could constitute an abuse of office, conflicts of interest, or violations of ethical standards. The donation from Jeff Grant, with his history of criminal fraud, and its endorsement by Elton Alexander, with his documented abuse of office, raises serious questions about improper influence and perceived conflicts of interest, which the source from ACCG official abuse of power guide explicitly warns against. ACCG is an insurance provider for Georgia’s counties.
The city’s acceptance, celebrated by figures like Alexander, suggests a potential willingness to overlook troubling histories in favor of perceived public benefit, without adequately addressing the implications of such alliances on ethical governance.
