Faith-based non-profits and other non-profits have been an important part of Brytan & Associates’ business for over 25 years. Generally, faith-based non-profits are not known as victims of fraud, embezzlement, waste and/or abuse. The reason why is not because embezzlement and fraud don’t exist in non-profits – it’s because activity is rarely reported to authorities.
We find, instead, person(s) of interest are “forgiven” and/or provided the opportunity to “repay” all or part of the loss. Remember “forgiven” and/or “repay” is not a legal remedy. An applicable loss is still fraud, embezzlement, waste and/or abuse according to appropriate laws in force. For many faith-based entities today, current and replacement of financial resources are limited, and a loss of any size can be devastating. Our experience establishes losses can be from small to mega – no debate!
An illustration is the accompanying FBI News Release. We were retained in December 2016 and presented the completed report to the FBI March 2017. The FBI accepted and federal grand jury indicted 90 days later. After normal handling, the party of interest was sentenced to Federal prison February 20, 2019. For a full description of this case, read more here.
What can you do to mitigate your risk of abuse? Our BLOG provides a valuable discussion of the critical importance of Fidelity Bonds. If you do NOT have one read more about Fidelity Bonds today! This is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy for peace of mind.
