2. June 5, 2024
A man who for years controlled the finances at a group that has turned Detroit’s riverfront into a popular attraction was charged Wednesday with embezzling tens of millions of dollars. William Smith routinely used money from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy to pay credit card bills for travel, hotels, limousines, household goods, clothing and jewelry, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court.
The fraud is “simply astonishing in scale,” said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison, who pegged the theft at $40 million. The complaint accuses Smith, 51, of orchestrating the plan as early as November 2012 to embezzle millions from the nonprofit conservancy focused on promoting and revitalizing the international riverfront.
The criminal complaint alleges that Smith carried out his embezzlement scheme in two distinct ways: First, he is alleged to have used conservancy funds to pay for charges that he and his family accrued on an American Express account. Second, federal authorities allege he diverted conservancy funds to a company he controlled called “The Joseph Group.” The company was not an approved vendor of the conservancy board, nor did it provide any conservancy services.
According to the complaint, in January 2013 Smith used a credit card to purchase airline tickets for himself and others, pay insurance premiums and made significant clothing and jewelry purchases, including $4,850 worth of men’s wear from Revive in Birmingham and $5,618 in jewelry from Diamonds Direct in Southfield. Other charges in March 2013 ranged from more than $12,000 at a Chevrolet dealer and over $17,000 from Louis Vuitton. Bank statements showed that on March 14, 2013, Smith made a $96,000 payment from the conservancy’s Comerica bank account to his American Express account. That June, he allegedly used more than $22,000 of conservancy funding for his personal residence, including lawn care services and items from The Home Depot, Art Van Furniture, Wayfair and Scott Shuptrine, the complaint adds.
To cover up his alleged acts, according to the complaint, Smith doctored bank statements that he is then accused of providing to the conservancy’s accountant for entry into the nonprofit’s accounting software. These false bank statements led to erroneous financial information being entered into the DRFC’s books, thereby concealing the fraud,” the Wednesday news release notes.
In 2023, Smith is alleged to have obtained a $5 million line of credit with Citizens Bank on the conservancy’s behalf – a line of credit he was not authorized to take out. The bank asked Smith for documentation confirming that Smith, as CFO, had the sole authority to obtain such a line of credit on behalf of the conservancy. Smith is alleged to have provided the bank with a document purporting to establish that he was empowered by the conservancy’s Board of Directors to obtain such credit lines. That document, according to the complaint, was false, and bore the forged signature of the conservancy’s corporation secretary.
Smith was CFO of the conservancy from 2011 until he was fired in late May. The nonprofit is funded by a combination of public and private dollars.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy noted in the Wednesday release that the case was initially brought to her office on May 14. The prosecutor said the office was “quickly able to deduce that an enormous amount of money was allegedly embezzled and that there would be mountains of documents to examine.”
Smith, who was chief financial officer from 2011 until he was fired in May, was charged with bank and wire fraud. He was led into court in handcuffs and subsequently released on bond.
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/feds-former-cfo-detroit-riverfront-group-embezzled-40-million
1. March 3, 2024
A biology professor who had been featured on National Geographic was charged with stealing more than $300,000 that had been dedicated to shark and stingray research and spending it on herself, according to police. Georgia native Christine Bedore, 44, a professor and researcher at Georgia Southern University, surrendered to police in Bradenton, Florida on Tuesday. Bedore also worked as a treasurer at the non-profit organization American Elasmobranch Society (AES), which does research in marine biology with sharks and stingrays.
The president of AES told cops in November that had been bilking money from its checking and savings accounts, according to police. Over five years, Bedore made transactions totaling at least $300,000 that she used for personal expenses, “including medical procedures, a vehicle, subscription services, utilities, pet insurance, travel, entertainment, and more,”
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