Cobb Board of Education vice chairman John Cristadoro has settled a civil lawsuit filed against him, his business and another party by a client on charges of fraud and misusing business funds.
In the consent judgment filed Wednesday, Cristadoro and his advertising, marketing and events company, Alliance Activation LLC, were ordered to repay the client $225,000 plus future interest, most of it in three business days.
The consent judgment noted that the business’ policies included “using client funds to pay Alliance’s own operating expenses at times when Alliance was experiencing a cash flow shortage.” Those policies were crafted by Cristadoro, as the president and CEO, and a bookkeeper, according to Wednesday’s filing.
That filing further states that “Cristadoro, without Plaintiff’s consent, authorized use of Plaintiff’s funds for payment of Alliance’s operating expenses and credit card statements to cover a cash flow shortage.”
Some of those statements, according to the consent judgment, “included non-business transactions for Cristadoro’s personal benefit.”
Cristadoro, an East Cobb resident in his first year on the school board, told East Cobb News in response to a story published Tuesday that the lawsuit, which was filed in Fulton State Court, has no bearing on his duties in public office.
“It’s a personal case from a personal business, both of which have nothing to do with serving students, other than being a target by those who are trying to tear down Cobb schools,” said Cristadoro.
The case came to light Monday at a Fulton court hearing in which Cristadoro and the client, an insurance company, attempted to seal court documents about the settlement.
Four constituents of Cristadoro’s in Cobb school board Post 5 in East Cobb filed a motion before the hearing on Monday to keep the records public, saying it’s a matter of transparency given his status as an elected official.
Sagicor Life Insurance Company said in a March 2024 lawsuit that it paid Cristadoro and Alliance Activation, the company he founded in 2012, a $250,000 sponsorship fee for advertising at sporting venues in Tampa, Fla. (original lawsuit here).
Sagicor said in the suit that Cristadoro, Alliance Activation and the other defendant, named John Doe in the filings, was to have turned the money over to a third-party vendor to provide the sponsorship services.
But that never happened, and the consent judgment states that Sagicor hasn’t been repaid.
(Alliance Activation is located in Sandy Springs, hence the legal action in Fulton County.)
The charges included fraud, theft, breach of contract and fiduciary duty, civil racketeering and gross negligence, claims that Cristadoro initially denied in court filings.
According to Wednesday’s filing, Alliance Activation will be allowed to keep $25,000 in commission charges.
In his response to East Cobb News, Cristadoro said that “I am proud of the business we built and happy we’ve been able to negotiate a successful next chapter for the partners and employees. I learned a lot about people and serving customers which are lessons I’ll use for the rest of my life—especially in public service.”
Late Wednesday afternoon, he issued a similar response to “members of the press” from a business e-mail address, and asked that they contact him there about the lawsuit, instead of his official school board e-mail address.
Cristadoro also was asked by East Cobb News what he thought about the motion that was filed by the four individuals—including a Cobb schools financial watchdog, Heather Tolley-Bauer of Watching the Funds-Cobb (you can read that here)—and a statement by the Cobb County Democratic Committee on Tuesday that he resign.
“What other individuals do in their search for significance is their decision as they try to survive by creating fake outrage,” Cristadoro said. “Regarding the other nonsense [the CCDC demand], that doesn’t warrant a response.”
Cristadoro, whose two children attend Walton High School, is a Republican and part of a 4-3 GOP majority on the school board, which in recent years has clashed along partisan lines on a number of issues.
Tolley-Bauer and others co-founded Watching the Funds-Cobb in 2021 to scrutinize Cobb County School District finances, budgeting and spending, saying it was a non-partisan organization.
But some of those prominently involved in the group are deeply involved in local Democratic politics.
Co-founder Stacy Efrat is now a Cobb County Democratic Party appointee to the Cobb Board of Elections. Laura Judge, who served in former Democratic Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson’s “citizen cabinet,” lost to Cristadoro last year in the general election for the Post 5 seat.
Tolley-Bauer has supported Democratic school board candidates in Post 5 in 2020 and Judge last year.
Watching the Funds-Cobb has been critical of spending decisions made by the Cobb school district administration, including a $50 million special events center that was eventually scuttled, but has not previously scrutinized the activities of elected board members.
Tolley-Bauer told East Cobb News Tuesday that neither Efrat nor Judge is currently involved the group. She said she was told last week about the lawsuit against Cristadoro by “a concerned citizen” and as she was looking through the case files, noticed that “they asked to seal something.”
An attorney with an Atlanta law firm drafted a motion in time for Monday’s hearing, at which Fulton State Court Judge Wesley Tailor refused a request to seal court documents, saying the public interest outweighs privacy matters.
“This is an issue of transparency,” Tolley-Bauer said, adding that one of Cristadoro’s primary talking points in his campaign was his background as a businessman.
“He has a fiduciary responsibility to his constituents. We have a right to know whether or not he can be trusted with those responsibilities.”
Tolley-Bauer admitted that she’s aware of how the partisan “optics” might look. She said she’s voted for Republican Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell and also “accidentally” voted for David Banks, a former GOP school board member whom Cristadoro succeeded, “when I first moved here.”
But “this literally was an argument for transparency,” Tolley-Bauer. “If people don’t care to know [about the lawsuit], then I respect that. But the facts are the facts. And the taxpayer deserves to know.”
Related:
- Cobb school board vice chairman named in civil lawsuit
- Dickerson MS Percussion Ensemble earns state, national honors
- Wheeler leads Cobb, 2nd in Ga. in 2025 ACT scores
- Pope HS teacher leaves handprints at Marietta Square
- Progressive group donates to Brumby ES for student meals
- Cobb-Marietta Marching Band Exhibition moved to Lassiter HS
- Walton leads Cobb, ranks 4th in Georgia in 2025 SAT scores
- Pope HS leads Cobb school district 2025 graduation rates
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