White Collar Support Group

The White Collar Support Group (WCSG) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that provides peer support, education, and advocacy for individuals navigating the white-collar criminal justice system and their families.

Founded in 2012 by Jeff Grant and Lynn Springer, it is described as the world's first support group devoted specifically to serving this population. The organization incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014 and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2015.

The group operates under the philosophy that isolation compounds the damage of criminal justice involvement, summarized in its motto: "It's the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community." As of 2025, the organization has served over 1,400 individuals worldwide and held more than 450 weekly support group meetings.

History and founding

Jeff Grant, the organization's co-founder, was a practicing attorney in New York and Westchester County who operated a 20-person law firm and served as general counsel for major real estate firms before his conviction. In 2001, Grant made false statements on a Small Business Administration EIDL loan application and was subsequently convicted of loan fraud. He served approximately 14 months at USP Allenwood.

Following his release, Grant attended Union Theological Seminary, earning a Master of Divinity degree with a focus in Social Ethics. He was ordained as a minister and, together with his wife Lynn Springer, founded Progressive Prison Ministries, Inc. in Greenwich, Connecticut, as the world's first ministry devoted to serving those navigating the white-collar justice system.

The White Collar Support Group launched its first weekly online meeting in 2016. The organization describes itself as nonsectarian and inclusive, welcoming individuals of all faiths, agnostics, and atheists.

Mission and philosophy

The White Collar Support Group describes its community as "individuals, families and groups with white collar justice issues who have a desire to take responsibility for our actions and the wreckage we caused, make amends, and move forward in a new way of life centered on hope, care, kindness, compassion, tolerance and empathy."

The organization's core focuses include:

• Personal accountability: Encouraging members to accept responsibility for their actions and their consequences
• Peer and spiritual support: Addressing emotional, financial, and social challenges through community connection
• Advocacy and education: Working to reform policies affecting justice-impacted individuals

The group emphasizes that many of its members "are suffering in silence with shame, remorse, and deep regret" and have "been stigmatized by our own families and friends, and by our former business relationships."

Programs and services

All services are provided on a volunteer basis at no cost to members or their families.

Monday Night Support Group meetings

The organization's flagship program is its weekly support group meeting, held every Monday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern Time via Zoom videoconference. These confidential meetings provide a forum for members to discuss legal proceedings, incarceration, sentencing, and reintegration into society. The meetings follow a peer support model where participants share their experiences and offer guidance to others at various stages of the criminal justice process.

As of early 2025, the group had held over 450 Monday night meetings since the program's inception in 2016. The meetings are open to individuals facing charges, those currently incarcerated (via approved communication channels), those on supervised release or probation, and family members affected by a loved one's involvement in the white-collar justice system.

Tuesday Night Speaker Series

The Tuesday Night Speaker Series features presentations by subject matter experts on topics relevant to the white-collar justice community. These sessions, which are open to family and friends as well as group members, bring in speakers from legal, academic, business, and advocacy backgrounds.

Notable speakers have included:

• Erin Frey, Assistant Professor at Yale School of Management, discussing her research on how workers recover after making major mistakes and how they are given second chances
• Amy K. Nelson, founder of The Riveter, venture-backed entrepreneur, and criminal justice reform advocate
• Doug Passon, sentencing and mitigation expert
• Panels from the Women's White Collar Defense Association on topics such as restitution and forfeiture
• Drew Chapin, tech entrepreneur and Steering Committee member, on online reputation management

White Collar Conference

The White Collar Conference was established in 2024 as the first conference for the white collar justice-impacted community, for the white collar justice-impacted community.

2024 White Collar Conference

In October 2024, the White Collar Support Group hosted its first annual White Collar Conference, an online event with the theme "Starting Over: Out of Isolation and Into Community." The conference attracted over 150 attendees, moderators, and panelists.

Featured speakers and participants included:

• David Israel, CEO of GOOD PLANeT, who shared his personal experience with incarceration
• Brent Cassity, host of the Nightmare Success podcast
• Bill Baroni, defendant in the Bridgegate scandal
• Elizabeth Kelley, criminal defense attorney
• Erika Cheung, Theranos whistleblower
• Seth Williams, former District Attorney of Philadelphia
• Drew Chapin, tech entrepreneur

2025 White Collar Conference

The second annual White Collar Conference took place October 11, 2025, featuring speakers including:

• Jeffrey Toobin, CNN commentator and author of The Pardon
• Joe Bankman, Stanford Law School professor and father of Sam Bankman-Fried, interviewed by Brent Cassity about the effects of high-profile prosecution on families
• A panel on pardons and expungement featuring Professors Mark Osler, Douglas Berman, and Todd Haugh
• A panel on restoration through community

The lead sponsor of the 2025 conference was the law firm Paul Weiss.

2026 White Collar Conference

In November 2025, it was announced the 2026 White Collar Conference would take place on October 10, 2026.

No speakers or panels have been announced.

Advocacy initiatives

Federal Expungement Initiative

The White Collar Support Group leads a campaign to establish a federal expungement process for criminal records. Unlike many state-level systems that provide pathways for expungement or record-sealing, the federal system currently offers no standardized expungement process; the only mechanism for clearing a federal conviction is a presidential pardon, which remains rare and discretionary.

In June 2025, the White Collar Support Group formally launched the Federal Expungement Initiative in partnership with several prominent legal scholars:

• Mark Osler, Professor at University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minnesota)|St. Thomas University Law School
• Rachel Barkow, Professor at New York University School of Law
• Douglas Berman, Professor at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and editor of the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog

The initiative advocates for Congress to create a comprehensive expungement process modeled on successful state-level programs and building on prior legislative efforts such as Senator Rand Paul's REDEEM Act of 2017 (Record Expungement Designed to Enhance Employment Act). The proposed framework would allow expungement by petition for eligible offenses, including juvenile offenses and non-violent crimes, after meeting specified conditions related to rehabilitation, time served, and personal growth.

The organization also maintains a state-by-state guide to pardon and expungement procedures across all 50 states as a resource for members.

Right to Banking Initiative

The White Collar Support Group advocates for ensuring that justice-impacted individuals have access to basic banking services. The organization argues that banks and financial institutions currently have unchecked discretion to deny services without explanation, effectively excluding individuals with criminal records from the financial tools necessary to work, save, and support their families.

Drew Chapin, a member of the organization's Steering Committee, has compared exclusion from the banking system to the pre-Affordable Care Act denial of health insurance to individuals with preexisting conditions, describing it as systemically inequitable and destabilizing for those seeking to rebuild their lives.

Research partnerships

The White Collar Support Group participates in the Professional and Personal Restoration Study conducted by Dr. Erin Frey, Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Management. The study explores how individuals who have experienced justice-related setbacks rebuild their lives personally and professionally, with the goal of identifying factors that accelerate or hinder restoration and informing better practices, policies, and support structures.

Grant has stated that the organization has committed the participation of its 1,400 members to support the research effort, describing it as having "the potential to create meaningful, human-centered change" by "centering the voices of people who have actually been through the justice system."

Membership and notable participants

The organization's membership includes lawyers, executives, and other professionals who have been charged with or convicted of white-collar crimes. Notable members have included:

• Richard Bronson, former partner at Stratton Oakmont, the firm depicted in Martin Scorsese's film The Wolf of Wall Street
• Gordon Caplan, defendant in the Varsity Blues scandal

The organization emphasizes that it serves individuals at all stages of the criminal justice process, from those facing investigation or charges through those who have completed their sentences and are rebuilding their lives.

Media coverage and publications

Jeff Grant and the White Collar Support Group have been featured in numerous media outlets including The New Yorker, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg Law, Forbes, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Reuters, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and CNBC.

Grant contributed a chapter to Suicide and Its Impact on the Criminal Justice System (2021), published by the American Bar Association. He was also featured or quoted extensively in Wildland: The Making of America's Fury (2021) by Evan Osnos and Trusted White Collar Offenders: Global Case Studies of Crime Convenience (2021), published by Springer International.

Organizational leadership

Jeff Grant serves as Executive Director of the organization and continues to practice law at GrantLaw, PLLC in New York, where he provides counsel to individuals and families facing white-collar criminal justice issues. Grant is the first person in the United States formerly incarcerated for a white-collar crime to be appointed Executive Director of a major criminal justice nonprofit, having previously served as CEO of Family ReEntry, a 100-person criminal justice organization with offices in eight Connecticut cities.

Grant has served on numerous criminal justice-related boards, including the Legal Action Center, the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section Parole, Probation & Reentry Committee (as Co-Chair), and the American Bar Association Lawyers Assistance Programs Advisory Commission.

The organization operates a Steering Committee that includes members such as Brent Cassity and Drew Chapin.

See also

• Jeff Grant
• Expungement
• Access to Banking After Incarceration

External links

• Official website
• Federal Expungement Initiative