Latest news with #embezzlement
Associated Press
15 hours ago
- Associated Press
Defendant in Mississippi auditor's ‘second largest' embezzlement case in history goes free
Four years ago, agents from the state auditor's office arrested Tunica nonprofit operator Mardis Jones in what the office trumpeted as the second-largest embezzlement case in its history and demanded Jones return over $1 million to the state. The charges accused Jones of stealing $750,000 from a home rehabilitation program he was supposed to be administering while turning away needy rural residents living in crumbling houses. But his defense attorney attacked holes in the case, and last month, a local jury found Jones not guilty of the criminal charges. Now, the state has made no indication it will bring a civil case to try to claw back the money from him. Jones' nonprofit Tunica County Housing Inc. secured a subcontract with the county through the North Delta Regional Housing Authority in 2014 to run the county's home rehabilitation program funded with casino revenue. For his work, vetting applications and managing expenses, Jones earned $12,000 a month. At the core of the criminal case were 'strange money transfers' and a finding that several of the people whose applications for home rehab were approved allegedly never received any repairs to their homes. According to the auditor's office, investigators found less than 20% of the nearly $2 million Jones' nonprofit received went to the contractors working to rehab homes. 'Once again, an arm of government trusted a private organization to run a government program, and a large percentage of the program's spending was flat out stolen,' State Auditor Shad White said in a press release after the arrest. Attorney General Lynn Fitch echoed White, saying, 'These funds – hundreds of thousands of dollars – were meant to help the elderly, handicapped, and poverty stricken. But the funds never got to the vulnerable citizens who needed it most.' Jones' lawyer Carlos Tanner explained to Mississippi Today that the program operated with an extreme backlog, and that 'some of the people they were claiming didn't get their houses done actually did' by the time the trial was held this year. The program was poorly administered, Tanner said, meaning that even if a person's application was approved and a rehab contract prepared, county officials could direct Jones to put someone else's repair job ahead of his or hers. 'But just because it was run like a first weekend lemonade stand does not mean Mardis Jones stole money,' Tanner said. Tanner said the investigators gathered paltry evidence, only looking at details that fit their narrative. While Jones did earn a large salary through his contract, Tanner said prosecutors never presented evidence that Jones converted money that was supposed to be used on home rehabilitation to his personal use. Investigators got a warrant to seize Jones' electronics, Tanner said, but 'they never bothered to search it.' 'The two OSA (Office of the State Auditor) officials who were running the investigation, I questioned them about it during trial, and neither of them could tell me where the computer was, where the phone was, or what the contents were,' Tanner said. Jacob Walters, a spokesperson for the auditor's office, defended the way the investigators handled the case, saying, 'The state auditor's office is never going to turn a case we investigated over to a prosecutor unless we're fully confident in the work that we did.' At the time the auditor's office announced the Jones arrest, it also said it delivered a demand letter ordering Jones to repay over $1 million, the money it alleged he stole plus interest and investigative expenses. It's up to the attorney general or local district attorney to decide how to prosecute auditor investigations, or in Jones' case, what happens to the civil demand now that a jury found him not guilty in the criminal case. When a person receives a demand alongside his or her arrest, regardless of what happens with criminal charges, the claw back can be enforced through civil litigation — much like the case against several defendants in a stunning Mississippi Department of Human Services fraud case, which began in 2020 and has yet to be resolved. Walters said the demand against Jones is still the office's next-largest in history, second only to the welfare scandal. The government might choose to pursue civil litigation, even if criminal prosecution is unsuccessful, because there is a lower burden of proof to win civil cases. But the attorney general's office told Mississippi Today last month that it had not received the Jones demand letter from the auditor, meaning it has nothing left to enforce. Walters said the auditor's office sent the letter along with the case file four years ago, but that with a turnover in attorneys prosecuting the case, the auditor had to resend the file last year. If the attorney general's office no longer possesses the demand document, Walters said, 'it's an incredibly easy problem to resolve.' 'Just reach out to us with a single phone call or email and we can get it to you,' Walters said. After the interview, the auditor's office sent the demand letter by email, and the attorney general's office confirmed it was received. ___ This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Brickbat: Minimum Effort
Former Santa Cruz County, Arizona, Treasurer Elizabeth Gutfahr was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to embezzling over $38 million in public funds over 10 years, in what her own attorney called "one of the dumbest, ill-conceived, short-sighted, and most audacious crimes in Arizona state history." Her scheme involved moving taxpayer money into her private accounts with little effort to hide it, yet it went unnoticed until recently, when her bank noticed irregular activities in 2024 and alerted law enforcement. To recover some of the stolen funds, Santa Cruz County is selling off assets like real estate, livestock, and luxury cars Gutfahr purchased, recovering nearly $3 million so far. The post Brickbat: Minimum Effort appeared first on
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Calgary pair accused of bilking Bowness non-profit of more than $66,000
Two Calgary men face fraud charges, accused of embezzling more than $66,000 from a Bowness non-profit. Two Calgary men face fraud charges, accused of embezzling more than $66,000 from a Bowness non-profit. One has a history that includes manslaughter in B.C. According to police, Bowness Ratepayers Scout and Guide Hall Association directors were approached by two men in 2022 about rebranding and handing off day-to-day operations. The hall became BowCommon, with events hosted under Discover Bowness. Police say they were contacted in April 2024, after 'a significant amount of missing funds' was discovered. Police say investigation placed the missing amount at more than $66,000. It's believed this was done 'by hosting events using organization funds without paying attributed fees, falsifying documents to obtain financial control and creating false receipts for services never rendered, which were then sent to fabricated email addresses and deposited into their personal bank accounts.' 'It's over $66,000 of embezzlement, (and) in a small community association that's struggling to keep a community hall going, supporting the community, this could be a really big fraud and it could have a huge financial impact—a potentially devastating impact,' said Insp. Keith Hurley, commander for District 2. Tuesday, police arrested a pair of suspects: Nathan Michael Mizera, 41; and Joshua Tyler Bredo, 40. Two Calgary men face fraud charges, accused of embezzling more than $66,000 from a Bowness non-profit. Two Calgary men face fraud charges, accused of embezzling more than $66,000 from a Bowness non-profit. Both are charged with fraud over $5,000 and both are scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 6. Hurley said given the victimization of a community group, police felt there was 'a strong public interest in knowing the charges that have been laid.' There is no expectation of additional suspects identified, additional charges laid or additional missing monies discovered. On Wednesday, shortly after police issued their statement, Mizera and Bredo issued a joint statement of their own. They denied any wrongdoing and accused a pair of police officers of targeting them and of corruption. 'The allegations against us are entirely false and have no credible evidentiary foundation,' the statement read. Hurley said an investigation like this 'isn't just (built on) a singular source of information.' 'People who are involved with this spent quite a bit of time on it and we're very confident in the charges we've laid,' he said. Gord Barge, president of the Bowness Ratepayers Scout and Guide Hall Association, told CTV News Calgary on Wednesday he is 'happy to see charges are finally being laid.' 'The Executive of the hall has been dealing very closely with Calgary Police Service since Bredo and Mizera were removed from the hall by CPS at the end of April 2024,' he said. 'It was hard to ignore social media posts from them but we were told by the detectives that it was in our best interest to not engage with them in any way until we are in court.' According to Mizera's LinkedIn page, he's intending to run for Calgary Board of Education trustee. CTV News Calgary has learned Bredo was sentenced in June 2017 for the August 2011 manslaughter of a Revelstoke man in Victoria, following a guilty plea. Taking time served into consideration, Bredo was released in November 2018.
CBS News
3 days ago
- CBS News
Wyandotte man accused of stealing $166K from former employer
A Metro Detroit man has been charged with embezzling more than $166,000 from his employer, the Michigan attorney general's office reported. Jason Garza, 45, of Wyandotte, was arraigned Monday in 35th District Court in Plymouth regarding money diverted from his employer, Montway Auto Transport in Canton Township. A probable cause conference is scheduled for July 7. The charges are: Embezzlement of more than $100,000, a 20-year felony. Embezzlement between $50,000 and $100,000, a 15-year felony. Embezzlement between $1,000 and $20,000, a 5-year felony. Three counts of using a computer to commit a crime. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in her report that during 2021 and 2022, Garza offered customers unauthorized discounts if they paid him directly through peer-to-peer payment applications. He is accused of then keeping that money for his personal use, while failing to submit that funds to Montway. "Employees who steal from businesses betray the trust of their employers and their colleagues," Nessel said.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Vietnamese tycoon Truong My Lan escapes death penalty, to serve life in jail
Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, who masterminded a US$12.5 billion banking fraud , has avoided the gallows after the government on Wednesday scrapped the death penalty for eight crimes, including embezzlement. Lan, the chairwoman of property giant the Van Thinh Phat Group, was sentenced to death last year on embezzlement and bribery charges. Her lawyer said the sentence 'will be converted to life imprisonment' after the National Assembly abolished capital punishment for eight offences, which included espionage, corruption, and an attempt to overthrow the government. Giang Hong Thanh added that Lan was 'very happy'. Lan was convicted last April of using multiple ghost companies to gain control of the Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), plundering US$12.5 billion from the lender. But total damages caused by the fraud may have hit US$27 billion, according to prosecutors. In May, an appeal court ruled that Lan, 68, could escape the death penalty if she paid back three-quarters of the amount stolen.
