Charity group accuses volunteers of fraud
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Medicine Hat, AB–A local charitable organization has filed a civil lawsuit against it’s former vice president and his spouse. The Youth With A Mission Society alleges the Medicine Hat couple misappropriated funds totaling more than 1 million dollars.
According to the Statement of Claim filed on November 4th, 2019, the couple were volunteers who were never entitled to wages or other compensation. It’s alleged they used their positions of trust to secure protracted access to charitable monies through cheques, money orders, bank drafts, debit card transactions, and ATM withdrawals. The money allegedly went missing between June 4th, 2012 and October 18th, 2018.
In a news release, YWAM says it first became aware of issues last October when cheques started being returned due to insufficient funds. A litigation firm in Edmonton was hired after the couple allegedly breached a repayment agreement. This “led to the retention of leading national accounting firm MNP which in late October finalized a forensic audit that revealed even greater embezzlement and concluded that funds were not used for the benefit of the charity”, the release stated.
