Sketchy news from small town news sources in Owosso, MI, but apparently $200,000.00 has been embezzled from the SRI. That's a lot of money! As of now they can't locate the person of interest.
Steve
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Ouch! Hope it’s not true. I love that place and have donated. 1225 rules!
AC
It appears it was a former financial director for SRI Mary Lombardo. 
That organization should sue her for everything and run her into bankruptcy if needed. There is too much of this embezzlement going on and all non profit organizations should audit their books each year as a cost of existence!
The common thread throughout most of these embezzlement scams is that one person has control of the money. This issue is a case in point. Mary L. had sole responsibility for the organizations credit card. Seriously, when will these organizations learn? No matter how honest a person (or persons) may appear, you must have checks and balances in place. $200k - an expensive lesson.
Steve
Hope they pounce on and drop a net over the perp, and that she doesn't get a wimpy judge. That is a felony which should get you a low budget motel room and many holidays away from home.
Here is the headline from a local newspaper and link.
https://www.argus-press.com/ar...43-63a3bebf7907.html
Gary
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Outside annual auditing is imperative for all organizations, including non-profits. Trust no one.
trainroomgary posted:Here is the headline from a local newspaper and link.
https://www.argus-press.com/ar...43-63a3bebf7907.html
Gary
Shame, now he's going to sit in prison with a guy named Buba who thinks he's cute for $200,000.
DennyM posted:Shame, now he's going to sit in prison with a guy named Buba who thinks he's cute for $200,000.
Hi Denny:
The he is a she named "Mary" - She lost all her lambs.
Gary
Our organization does an audit every year around Christmas time. A meeting is set aside to go over it and copies are given out to anyone who wants one. That said, I hope the court give this women many years in the "Hotel Graybar".
There is a difference between accused and convicted - a big difference.
RoyBoy posted:There is a difference between accused and convicted - a big difference.
True, but it should be quite easy to prove guilt in this case (as it has been with numerous other such organizations and businesses). The difficult part is recovering what was lost.
Relying on an audit is a false sense of security. It is too late once the theft is discovered. The most effective cure for internal theft is to have a strong set of Internal Controls and make sure they are followed. During my 50 years as a CPA it is disturbing how many organizations, big and small either have Internal Controls and don't practice them or just operate under the premise that every one is honest. As said above when it comes to handling someone else's money trust no one. Strong internal controls protect the organization and the employees.
This is a real shocker guys. Mary was with the SRI team for quite some time. Most of the people that support the 1225 are hard workers and volunteer their time.
I hate talking about these things... Hope SRI institutes some checks and balances to prevent future issues like this.
tncentrr posted:Our organization does an audit every year around Christmas time. A meeting is set aside to go over it and copies are given out to anyone who wants one. That said, I hope the court give this women many years in the "Hotel Graybar".
The audits should be random, not approximately the same time each year.
Steve
If in fact the accused did this, it is not surprising that they were able to do this. Non profits like SRI and the like involve people who know each other and where the group operates on a lot of shared trust, and as a result they often don't have the kind of controls that businesses are supposed to have, they don't do regular audits, they don't force people with control over money to go on continuous vacation to allow someone else to see what is going on (often don't have manpower to do that), and they don't have regular financial reporting. You add that, and someone with access to the money runs into financial problems, and you have a recipe where someone who is otherwise a good person ends up doing the wrong thing.
Today's society is in the toilet! I've seen this even happen in a church environment. So sad.
I do not know if they still do this in Live Oak County, Tx. ( seat is Goerge West, TX.) But for most checks going out, there had to be a TRIPPLE SIGNATURE OF THREE COUNTY OFFICIALS ON THE CHECK.
Maybe not possible for Harris County (Houston). But possible, for smallet NGO and non-profits. Particularly for amounts ovet a certain numbet.
$200,000. Wow. I hope she has a guilty conscience. It’s almost hard to believe someone would do that.
It's a world of (2). Everything at our church is by committee, or at least (2), even Monday deposits, at the bank are done by two people, after a committee counts the money, at the church, both have to sign the deposit slip. No one steals, they are only borrowing, and will replace the money later. IMO, Mike CT. Development of a cashless society simplifies,...... or make more complex (giving)??
The World of theft today is far beyond just internal. A church in Northeast Ohio just got hit for $1.7 million. Their email was hacked, a construction vendor's bank account number changed and funds wired to a fraudulent account. Every organization needs professionals to look at all accounting procedures. The electronic world is very dangerous.
Solution: Multiple persons' oversight on the accounts, requiring MORE than one signature for transactions and frequent audits. NEVER just one person no matter how trustworthy. Cynical? Maybe, but PRACTICAL!
Ye but a dozen signers would not have prevented the church fraud. The email hack was totally transparent to the system. The notice from the contractor to change banks was on identical contractor letter head and mechanical signature. Anyone looking at it would believe. The shortcoming is the lack on internal control that would direct a phone call to the sender of the letter verifying the change. IC' s have to be much broader that what is being presented.
Nothing more for me to add here. Very unfortunate for victims of fraud.
SORRY, "SWIPESY", but there is some unintended comical irony in your response to this thread! LOL 😁
Latest news is that she turned herself in and is in jail awaiting arraignment on Monday, May 6.
Steve
Sad.....Sad.....hope that the SRI can recover most, if not all of the money....and she gets 3 hots and a cot for MANY years!
General principles... At least two signatures on everything. BODs that aren't just a rubber stamp. Regular audits. Routine backups of data that can't be erased.
This kind of theft isn't new, and it's not "today's society". If anything, I'll bet it was more widespread back in the day when all transactions were in cash - skim off a few bucks here and there, and nobody notices. Embezzlement probably started the day after money was invented.
Sure hope that the organization recovers, and that the lesson is learned by them and by others.
A little league here in Ocean County, NJ, had good internal controls, dual signatures, audits, etc.
Worked well until the parents found out that both guys at the top were stealing. Two indictments were recently handed down.
Too bad the SRRI can't put her on a chain gang at prison pay rates until they recover losses. 😈
Tinplate Art posted:SORRY, "SWIPESY", but there is some unintended comical irony in your response to this thread! LOL 😁
Yes indeed Tinplate Art I do plead guilty to the irony. But I am reformed. More than 70 years ago my grandfather gave me the nickname Swipesy because I "stole" cookies from the cookie jar and left him none. But, later in life I reformed and became a CPA and caught crooks.
That was a good catch by you, lol. Never dawned on me Swipesy and preaching about evils of crooks.
NJCJOE posted:Today's society is in the toilet! I've seen this even happen in a church environment. So sad.
Not a recent problem - if money is involved there’s always been someone figuring out a way to get their grubby paws on it. Non-profits were/are susceptible since you’re dealing with folks you consider friends or have common interests - people let their guard down in small organizations. You hear about theft more today because of the instant nature of getting news and organizations making it public when theft occurs (dollar amounts are greater these days than 50 years ago, but stealing funds happened back then as well). Nothing new under the sun - dishonesty has a long history that’s gone unabated...
SWIPESY: THANK YOU for graciously letting me have a little fun at your expense! I would not have guessed there was an actual story behind your nickname, but I have to admit I, too, have swiped my share of cookies! LOL! 😁
Being a former English teacher and Assistant Professor, I was taught to perceive irony in literature. One of my own mentors once remarked that he thought the perception of irony could even be the basis of an intelligence test!
Update from Owosso: The accused was arraigned yesterday, she plead not guilty and bond was set at $30,000. She has a court date of May 15, 2019. No mention if she posted bond or was remanded to jail.
Steve
Ah, the revolving door of justice.
The only thing I’ll say is we go by SRI not SRRI
There is a woman who has been caught stealing multiple times and still walks free. Go figure.
Rescued Trains posted:Sketchy news from small town news sources in Owosso, MI, but apparently $200,000.00 has been embezzled from the SRRI. That's a lot of money! As of now they can't locate the person of interest.
Steve
Its a theft not a robbery
