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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.  
The '''White Collar Support Group''' ('''WCSG''') is a peer support group for people who have been accused or convicted of white-collar crimes, along with their families. It meets online once a week. The group runs through Progressive Prison Ministries, a Connecticut nonprofit, and was founded by [[Jeff_Grant|Jeff Grant]], a disbarred lawyer turned minister who served federal time himself.<ref name="grant-wikipedia">{{cite web |title=Jeff Grant (attorney) |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Grant_(attorney) |publisher=Wikipedia |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref><ref name="prisonist-home">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group - The Solution is in Community |url=https://prisonist.org/ |publisher=White Collar Support Group |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


Founded in 2012 by [[Jeff_Grant|Jeff Grant]] and Lynn Springer, it is described as the world's first support group devoted specifically to serving this population.<ref name="wcsg-wikipedia">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Collar_Support_Group |publisher=Wikipedia |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref> The organization incorporated as a nonprofit in Connecticut in 2014 and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2015.<ref name="wric-initiatives">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Launches New Criminal Justice Reform Initiatives |url=https://www.wric.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/806669221/white-collar-support-group-launches-new-criminal-justice-reform-initiatives/ |publisher=WRIC |date=April 28, 2025 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
The group describes itself as the first support community built specifically for this population. Its stated mission is rebuilding lives, careers, and reputations. By the group's own count, it has served more than 1,400 people worldwide and held over 450 weekly meetings.<ref name="wric-initiatives">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Launches New Criminal Justice Reform Initiatives |url=https://www.wric.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/806669221/white-collar-support-group-launches-new-criminal-justice-reform-initiatives/ |publisher=WRIC |date=April 28, 2025 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


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."<ref name="prisonist-home">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group - The Solution is in Community |url=https://prisonist.org/ |publisher=White Collar Support Group |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref> As of 2025, the organization has served over 1,400 individuals worldwide and held more than 450 weekly support group meetings.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />
== Overview ==


==History and founding==
The White Collar Support Group brings together a population that rarely has a place to talk. Its members are lawyers, executives, business owners, and other professionals who have faced federal investigation, charges, or conviction. Many arrive carrying shame, financial ruin, and broken relationships. The group treats that isolation as the core problem it exists to solve. Its motto puts it plainly: "It's the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community."<ref name="prisonist-home" />


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 [[United States Penitentiary, Allenwood]].<ref name="grant-wikipedia">{{cite web |title=Jeff Grant (attorney) |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Grant_(attorney) |publisher=Wikipedia |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
The format is simple. People meet by video once a week and talk. Some are still under investigation. Some are awaiting sentencing. Some are already home and trying to rebuild. Family members attend too. No one pays. The group is nonsectarian and says it welcomes people of any faith, agnostics, and atheists alike.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />


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.<ref name="grantlaw-about">{{cite web |title=About Jeff Grant |url=https://grantlaw.com/about/ |publisher=GrantLaw |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
The organization incorporated as a Connecticut nonprofit in 2014 and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2015.<ref name="wric-initiatives" /> It operates as a program of Progressive Prison Ministries, the parent ministry Grant and his wife Lynn Springer built in Greenwich.<ref name="grantlaw-about">{{cite web |title=About Jeff Grant |url=https://grantlaw.com/about/ |publisher=GrantLaw |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


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.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />
== History and Founding ==


==Mission and philosophy==
Jeff Grant practiced law in New York and Westchester County for years. He ran a 20-person firm and served as general counsel for real estate companies. That career ended with a fraud conviction. In 2001 Grant made false statements on a Small Business Administration disaster loan application. He was convicted of loan fraud and served roughly 14 months in federal prison.<ref name="grant-wikipedia" />


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."<ref name="conference-2024">{{cite web |title=First-Ever Conference for White Collar Justice Community to be Held on October 19, 2024 |url=https://www.wfxrtv.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/733127197/first-ever-conference-for-white-collar-justice-community-to-be-held-on-october-19-2024/ |publisher=WFXR |date=August 6, 2024 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
What he did after prison shaped everything that followed. Grant enrolled at Union Theological Seminary and earned a Master of Divinity with a focus in social ethics. He was ordained as a minister. With Lynn Springer, he founded Progressive Prison Ministries in Greenwich, Connecticut. The couple framed it as the first ministry built for people moving through the white-collar justice system.<ref name="grantlaw-about" /><ref name="grant-wikipedia" />


The organization's core focuses include:
The support group itself came later. Grant and Springer launched the first weekly online meeting in 2016.<ref name="wric-initiatives" /> The model held. Meetings ran week after week, and the count of people who passed through kept climbing. By early 2025 the group reported more than 450 Monday night sessions since it began.<ref name="grantlaw-about" />


*'''Personal accountability''': Encouraging members to accept responsibility for their actions and their consequences
Grant now serves as the group's executive director. He still practices law at GrantLaw, PLLC in New York, advising individuals and families facing white-collar cases. Before the support group, he ran Family ReEntry, a Connecticut criminal justice nonprofit with offices in eight cities.<ref name="grantlaw-about" />
*'''Peer and spiritual support''': Addressing emotional, financial, and social challenges through community connection
*'''Advocacy and education''': Working to reform policies affecting justice-impacted individuals<ref name="wcsg-wikipedia" />


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."<ref name="eventbrite-wcsg">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Events |url=https://www.eventbrite.com/o/white-collar-support-group-88530172383 |publisher=Eventbrite |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
== How It Works ==


==Programs and services==
The center of the program is a single weekly meeting. It runs every Monday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern over Zoom. The sessions are confidential. People talk through what they are living: a pending indictment, a sentencing date, the experience of prison itself, the slow work of reentry afterward.<ref name="prisonist-home" /><ref name="grant-wikipedia" />


===Monday Night Support Group meetings===
The meeting follows a peer model. There is no lecture. Members at different stages of the process share what they have been through and offer guidance to people earlier on the path. Someone facing charges can hear from someone who has already served and come home. The doors are open to people under investigation, people currently incarcerated through approved channels, people on supervised release or probation, and family members affected by a loved one's case.<ref name="wcsg-wikipedia">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Collar_Support_Group |publisher=Wikipedia |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


The organization's flagship program is its weekly support group meeting, held every Monday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern Time via Zoom videoconference.<ref name="prisonist-home" /> 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.<ref name="wcsg-wikipedia" />
A second weekly session widens the focus. The Tuesday night speaker series brings in outside voices: law professors, defense attorneys, business figures, and researchers who study recovery after a fall. These sessions are open to family and friends, not just members.<ref name="medium-newsletter">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Newsletter April 2025 |url=https://jeffgrantesq.medium.com/white-collar-support-group-newsletter-april-2025-cdad2a9e3bba |publisher=Medium |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


As of early 2025, the group had held over 450 Monday night meetings since the program's inception in 2016.<ref name="grantlaw-about" /> 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.
Everything is free. The group says all of its services are provided by volunteers at no cost to members or their families.<ref name="medium-newsletter" />


===Tuesday Night Speaker Series===
The work has also grown past the weekly meetings. The group runs a Federal Expungement Initiative, launched in 2025 with several law professors, that pushes for a federal process to clear old convictions. At present the only way to wipe a federal conviction is a presidential pardon, which is rare. The group argues for a petition-based system modeled on state programs.<ref name="federal-expungement-launch">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group and Noted Law Professors Launch Federal Expungement Initiative |url=https://noaa.einnews.com/pr_news/824001398/white-collar-support-group-and-noted-law-professors-launch-federal-expungement-initiative |publisher=EIN Presswire |date=June 23, 2025 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref> A separate effort, the Right to Banking Initiative, presses banks to stop denying basic accounts to people with records.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />


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.<ref name="medium-newsletter">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Newsletter April 2025 |url=https://jeffgrantesq.medium.com/white-collar-support-group-newsletter-april-2025-cdad2a9e3bba |publisher=Medium |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
== Mission ==


Notable speakers have included:
The group's mission is rebuilding lives, careers, and reputations. It describes its community as people "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."<ref name="conference-2024">{{cite web |title=First-Ever Conference for White Collar Justice Community to be Held on October 19, 2024 |url=https://www.wfxrtv.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/733127197/first-ever-conference-for-white-collar-justice-community-to-be-held-on-october-19-2024/ |publisher=WFXR |date=August 6, 2024 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


*'''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<ref name="eventbrite-frey">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Tuesday Speaker Series: Erin Frey |url=https://www.eventbrite.com/e/white-collar-support-grouptm-tuesday-speaker-series-erin-frey-registration-1236722292669 |publisher=Eventbrite |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
Three ideas run through the work. The first is accountability. Members are asked to own what they did and the harm it caused, not to minimize it. The second is support, both emotional and spiritual, for the financial and social wreckage that a case leaves behind. The third is advocacy, the effort to change the policies that keep people with records locked out long after a sentence ends.<ref name="wcsg-wikipedia" />
*'''Amy K. Nelson''', founder of The Riveter, venture-backed entrepreneur, and criminal justice reform advocate<ref name="prisonist-nelson">{{cite web |title=Amy K. Nelson: Founder, Lawyer, Mother, and Criminal Justice Reform Advocate – November 2024 |url=https://prisonist.org/speaker-series/amy-k-nelson-founder-lawyer-mother-and-criminal-justice-reform-advocate/ |publisher=White Collar Support Group |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
*'''Doug Passon''', sentencing and mitigation expert<ref name="prisonist-home" />
*Panels from the '''Women's White Collar Defense Association''' on topics such as restitution and forfeiture<ref name="prisonist-home" />
*'''Drew Chapin''', tech entrepreneur and Steering Committee member, on online reputation management<ref name="prisonist-home" />


===Additional resources===
The group is direct about why the room matters. Many members, it says, "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."<ref name="eventbrite-wcsg">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Events |url=https://www.eventbrite.com/o/white-collar-support-group-88530172383 |publisher=Eventbrite |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>


Beyond its core meetings, the organization provides members with:
== Frequently Asked Questions ==
{{FAQSection/Start}}
{{FAQ|question=What is the White Collar Support Group?|answer=The White Collar Support Group, or WCSG, is a free peer support group for people who have been accused or convicted of white-collar crimes, and for their families. It meets online once a week and operates as a program of Progressive Prison Ministries, a Connecticut nonprofit.}}
{{FAQ|question=Who founded the White Collar Support Group?|answer=It was founded by Jeff Grant, a former New York attorney who was convicted of loan fraud and served roughly 14 months in federal prison. After his release, Grant became an ordained minister and, with his wife Lynn Springer, built Progressive Prison Ministries. The weekly support group launched in 2016.}}
{{FAQ|question=When and where does the group meet?|answer=The main meeting runs every Monday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern over Zoom. A second weekly speaker series is held on Tuesday nights and is open to family and friends as well as members.}}
{{FAQ|question=How much does it cost to join?|answer=Nothing. The group says all of its services are provided by volunteers at no cost to members or their families.}}
{{FAQ|question=Who can attend?|answer=The group is open to people under federal investigation, people facing charges, people currently incarcerated through approved channels, people on supervised release or probation, and family members affected by a loved one's case. It describes itself as nonsectarian and welcomes people of all faiths as well as agnostics and atheists.}}
{{FAQ|question=How many people has the group served?|answer=By its own count, the group has served more than 1,400 people worldwide and held over 450 weekly meetings since it began in 2016. These are figures reported by the organization.}}
{{FAQ|question=What is the group's mission?|answer=Its stated mission is rebuilding lives, careers, and reputations. The work centers on three ideas: personal accountability, peer and spiritual support, and advocacy for policy reform affecting people with criminal records.}}
{{FAQSection/End}}


*A private online community platform (Slack) offering 24/7 peer and mentor support
== References ==
*A white-collar job and career board
*A monthly newsletter with news, events, and resources
*A blog with over ten years of content on white-collar justice issues
*Welcome packets for new members
*Books and materials sent to incarcerated members<ref name="medium-newsletter" />


All services are provided on a volunteer basis at no cost to members or their families.<ref name="medium-newsletter" />
<references />
 
==Advocacy initiatives==
 
===Federal Expungement Initiative===
 
The White Collar Support Group leads a campaign to establish a federal [[Expungement|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_Clemency_and_Pardons|presidential pardon]], which remains rare and discretionary.<ref name="federal-expungement-org">{{cite web |title=Federal Expungement Initiative |url=https://federalexpungement.org/ |publisher=Federal Expungement Initiative |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
 
In June 2025, the White Collar Support Group formally launched the Federal Expungement Initiative in partnership with several prominent legal scholars:<ref name="federal-expungement-launch">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group and Noted Law Professors Launch Federal Expungement Initiative |url=https://noaa.einnews.com/pr_news/824001398/white-collar-support-group-and-noted-law-professors-launch-federal-expungement-initiative |publisher=EIN Presswire |date=June 23, 2025 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
 
*'''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.<ref name="ccr-toobin">{{cite web |title=White Collar Conference Set for October 11 Featuring Jeffrey Toobin and Joe Bankman |url=https://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/news/200/white-collar-conference-set-for-october-11-featuring-jeffrey-toobin-and-joe-bankman/ |publisher=Corporate Crime Reporter |date=September 24, 2025 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
 
The organization also maintains a state-by-state guide to pardon and expungement procedures across all 50 states as a resource for members.<ref name="prisonist-state-guide">{{cite web |title=State Pardon & Expungement Guidance |url=https://prisonist.org/state-pardon-expungement-guidance-by-state/ |publisher=White Collar Support Group |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
 
===Right to Banking Initiative===
 
The White Collar Support Group advocates for ensuring that justice-impacted individuals have access to basic [[Access_to_Banking_After_Incarceration|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.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />
 
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.<ref name="davis-vanguard">{{cite web |title=White Collar Support Group Advocates for Criminal Justice Reform and Collaboration |url=https://davisvanguard.org/2025/05/white-collar-support-group-reform/ |publisher=Davis Vanguard |date=May 6, 2025 |access-date=November 24, 2024}}</ref>
 
==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.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />
 
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."<ref name="davis-vanguard" />
 
==White Collar Conference==
 
===2024 inaugural 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.<ref name="medium-newsletter" />
 
Featured speakers and participants included:<ref name="grant-wikipedia" />
 
*'''David Israel''', CEO of GOOD PLANeT, who shared his personal experience with incarceration
*'''[[Brent_Cassity|Brent Cassity]]''', host of the Nightmare Success podcast
*'''Bill Baroni''', defendant in the [[Fort Lee lane closure scandal|Bridgegate scandal]]
*'''Elizabeth Kelley''', criminal defense attorney
*'''Erika Cheung''', [[Elizabeth_Holmes|Theranos]] whistleblower
*'''Seth Williams''', former District Attorney of Philadelphia
*'''Drew Chapin''', tech entrepreneur
 
===2025 conference===
 
The second annual White Collar Conference was scheduled for October 11, 2025, featuring speakers including:<ref name="ccr-toobin" />
 
*'''Jeffrey Toobin''', CNN commentator and author of ''The Pardon''
*'''Joe Bankman''', Stanford Law School professor and father of [[Sam_Bankman-Fried|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.<ref name="ccr-toobin" />
 
==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:<ref name="grant-wikipedia" />
 
*'''Richard Bronson''', former partner at [[Jordan_Belfort|Stratton Oakmont]], the firm depicted in Martin Scorsese's film ''The Wolf of Wall Street''
*'''Gordon Caplan''', defendant in the [[2019 college admissions bribery scandal|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.<ref name="grantlaw-about" />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Group, White Collar Support}}
 
[[Category:Life Inside Federal Prison]]
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.<ref name="grant-wikipedia" />
[[Category:White_Collar_Crime]]
 
==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.<ref name="grantlaw-about" />
 
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.<ref name="grantlaw-about" />
 
The organization operates a Steering Committee that includes members such as Brent Cassity and Drew Chapin.<ref name="wric-initiatives" />
 
==See also==
*[[Jeff_Grant|Jeff Grant]]
*[[Expungement]]
*[[Access_to_Banking_After_Incarceration|Access to Banking After Incarceration]]
*[[White-collar crime]]
 
==References==
<references />


==External links==
{{#seo:
*[https://prisonist.org/ Official website]
|title=White Collar Support Group — Peer Support After a White-Collar Case | Prisonpedia
*[https://federalexpungement.org/ Federal Expungement Initiative]
|title_mode=replace
|description=The White Collar Support Group is a free weekly peer support group for people accused or convicted of white-collar crimes, founded by Jeff Grant through Progressive Prison Ministries.
|keywords=White Collar Support Group, WCSG, Jeff Grant, Progressive Prison Ministries, white collar crime support, federal prison reentry, peer support group
|type=Article
|site_name=Prisonpedia
|locale=en_US
|published_time=2024-01-01
|modified_time=2026-06-03
}}


[[Category:Support groups]]
{{MetaDescription|The White Collar Support Group is a free weekly peer support group for people accused or convicted of white-collar crimes, founded by Jeff Grant through Progressive Prison Ministries.}}
[[Category:White-collar crime]]

Latest revision as of 14:08, 3 June 2026

The White Collar Support Group (WCSG) is a peer support group for people who have been accused or convicted of white-collar crimes, along with their families. It meets online once a week. The group runs through Progressive Prison Ministries, a Connecticut nonprofit, and was founded by Jeff Grant, a disbarred lawyer turned minister who served federal time himself.[1][2]

The group describes itself as the first support community built specifically for this population. Its stated mission is rebuilding lives, careers, and reputations. By the group's own count, it has served more than 1,400 people worldwide and held over 450 weekly meetings.[3]

Overview

The White Collar Support Group brings together a population that rarely has a place to talk. Its members are lawyers, executives, business owners, and other professionals who have faced federal investigation, charges, or conviction. Many arrive carrying shame, financial ruin, and broken relationships. The group treats that isolation as the core problem it exists to solve. Its motto puts it plainly: "It's the isolation that destroys us. The solution is in community."[2]

The format is simple. People meet by video once a week and talk. Some are still under investigation. Some are awaiting sentencing. Some are already home and trying to rebuild. Family members attend too. No one pays. The group is nonsectarian and says it welcomes people of any faith, agnostics, and atheists alike.[3]

The organization incorporated as a Connecticut nonprofit in 2014 and received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in 2015.[3] It operates as a program of Progressive Prison Ministries, the parent ministry Grant and his wife Lynn Springer built in Greenwich.[4]

History and Founding

Jeff Grant practiced law in New York and Westchester County for years. He ran a 20-person firm and served as general counsel for real estate companies. That career ended with a fraud conviction. In 2001 Grant made false statements on a Small Business Administration disaster loan application. He was convicted of loan fraud and served roughly 14 months in federal prison.[1]

What he did after prison shaped everything that followed. Grant enrolled at Union Theological Seminary and earned a Master of Divinity with a focus in social ethics. He was ordained as a minister. With Lynn Springer, he founded Progressive Prison Ministries in Greenwich, Connecticut. The couple framed it as the first ministry built for people moving through the white-collar justice system.[4][1]

The support group itself came later. Grant and Springer launched the first weekly online meeting in 2016.[3] The model held. Meetings ran week after week, and the count of people who passed through kept climbing. By early 2025 the group reported more than 450 Monday night sessions since it began.[4]

Grant now serves as the group's executive director. He still practices law at GrantLaw, PLLC in New York, advising individuals and families facing white-collar cases. Before the support group, he ran Family ReEntry, a Connecticut criminal justice nonprofit with offices in eight cities.[4]

How It Works

The center of the program is a single weekly meeting. It runs every Monday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern over Zoom. The sessions are confidential. People talk through what they are living: a pending indictment, a sentencing date, the experience of prison itself, the slow work of reentry afterward.[2][1]

The meeting follows a peer model. There is no lecture. Members at different stages of the process share what they have been through and offer guidance to people earlier on the path. Someone facing charges can hear from someone who has already served and come home. The doors are open to people under investigation, people currently incarcerated through approved channels, people on supervised release or probation, and family members affected by a loved one's case.[5]

A second weekly session widens the focus. The Tuesday night speaker series brings in outside voices: law professors, defense attorneys, business figures, and researchers who study recovery after a fall. These sessions are open to family and friends, not just members.[6]

Everything is free. The group says all of its services are provided by volunteers at no cost to members or their families.[6]

The work has also grown past the weekly meetings. The group runs a Federal Expungement Initiative, launched in 2025 with several law professors, that pushes for a federal process to clear old convictions. At present the only way to wipe a federal conviction is a presidential pardon, which is rare. The group argues for a petition-based system modeled on state programs.[7] A separate effort, the Right to Banking Initiative, presses banks to stop denying basic accounts to people with records.[3]

Mission

The group's mission is rebuilding lives, careers, and reputations. It describes its community as people "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."[8]

Three ideas run through the work. The first is accountability. Members are asked to own what they did and the harm it caused, not to minimize it. The second is support, both emotional and spiritual, for the financial and social wreckage that a case leaves behind. The third is advocacy, the effort to change the policies that keep people with records locked out long after a sentence ends.[5]

The group is direct about why the room matters. Many members, it says, "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."[9]

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the White Collar Support Group?

The White Collar Support Group, or WCSG, is a free peer support group for people who have been accused or convicted of white-collar crimes, and for their families. It meets online once a week and operates as a program of Progressive Prison Ministries, a Connecticut nonprofit.


Q: Who founded the White Collar Support Group?

It was founded by Jeff Grant, a former New York attorney who was convicted of loan fraud and served roughly 14 months in federal prison. After his release, Grant became an ordained minister and, with his wife Lynn Springer, built Progressive Prison Ministries. The weekly support group launched in 2016.


Q: When and where does the group meet?

The main meeting runs every Monday evening at 7:00 PM Eastern over Zoom. A second weekly speaker series is held on Tuesday nights and is open to family and friends as well as members.


Q: How much does it cost to join?

Nothing. The group says all of its services are provided by volunteers at no cost to members or their families.


Q: Who can attend?

The group is open to people under federal investigation, people facing charges, people currently incarcerated through approved channels, people on supervised release or probation, and family members affected by a loved one's case. It describes itself as nonsectarian and welcomes people of all faiths as well as agnostics and atheists.


Q: How many people has the group served?

By its own count, the group has served more than 1,400 people worldwide and held over 450 weekly meetings since it began in 2016. These are figures reported by the organization.


Q: What is the group's mission?

Its stated mission is rebuilding lives, careers, and reputations. The work centers on three ideas: personal accountability, peer and spiritual support, and advocacy for policy reform affecting people with criminal records.


References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Jeff Grant (attorney)". Wikipedia. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "White Collar Support Group - The Solution is in Community". White Collar Support Group. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "White Collar Support Group Launches New Criminal Justice Reform Initiatives". WRIC. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "About Jeff Grant". GrantLaw. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "White Collar Support Group". Wikipedia. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "White Collar Support Group Newsletter April 2025". Medium. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  7. ↑ "White Collar Support Group and Noted Law Professors Launch Federal Expungement Initiative". EIN Presswire. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  8. ↑ "First-Ever Conference for White Collar Justice Community to be Held on October 19, 2024". WFXR. Retrieved November 24, 2024.
  9. ↑ "White Collar Support Group Events". Eventbrite. Retrieved November 24, 2024.


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