Ranchers Have a Beef With $2.6 Mil. Embezzlement

The Oklahoma Beef Council has sued its former accounting and compliance manager to recover $2.6 million it says was embezzled. While no charges have been filed yet, a criminal investigation into the alleged embezzlement is on-going.

Starting in 2009, it is alleged that the former employee forged checks escalating in value until 2016 when over $550K was reportedly stolen. The loss was discovered after an audit. In the years immediately before the discovery, the stolen funds represented 9% or more of total revenues.

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The following steps should be taken in any type of organization to help minimize and prevent fraud:

• Annual audits are crucial. Catch the anomalies before they become financial catastrophes
• Divide accounting duties so that the same person who is paying invoices is not writing checks or reconciling them
• More frequent and thorough review of bank accounts and bank account reconciliations by non-involved parties
• Leadership and non-accounting management need to review financials carefully and demand spot checks and periodic audits
• Clear and concise accounting processes and procedures should be developed and reviewed by third party consultants/accountants and then scrupulously implemented

Before a Loss Occurs…

Make sure your clients have crime insurance. Trying to recover stolen funds from a perpetrator offers no guarantee of success. Take the steps to ensure that your clients are covered and call one of the Berkley Crime team members listed below.

Call Berkley Crime today, we’ll help you and your clients get the right coverage, quickly.

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P: 844.44.CRIME
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