Nonprofit CFO Accused of ‘Simply Astonishing’ Fraud

The former chief financial officer of a nonprofit tasked with improving Detroit’s waterfront has been charged with a fraud that prosecutors say is “simply astonishing in scale.” William Smith, who was fired as CFO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy last week, is accused of stealing around $40 million from the nonprofit between late 2012 and March this year, which works out to almost $300,000 a month. He has been charged with bank fraud and wire fraud, the US Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

• A criminal complaint alleges that Smith, 51, “used the embezzled funds for his own personal gain and enrichment, spending the funds on airline tickets, hotels, limousines, household goods, lawn care, clothing, and jewelry,” the Detroit Free Press reports.