Free Republic

A federal judge has sentenced former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO William Smith to 19 years in federal prison for embezzling more than $44 million from the nonprofit over more than a decade. The judge also ordered him to pay more than $48 million in restitution. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy released a statement after the sentencing. It reads: "Today, we move forward to a bright future. We are incredibly grateful to U.S. District Judge Susan DeClercq for imposing a sentence commensurate the damage Will Smith inflicted on the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and its community of visitors, donors, and supporters. The U.S....

A tax accountant embezzled $10 million from a client, then used it to fund a lavish lifestyle that included a $2.2 million California mansion, a $74,000 bat mitzvah for his daughter and the production of three horror movies, authorities said Tuesday. Prosecutors said Denis I. Shusterman blew through the $10 million over eight years, spending about half on the three B movies. They said he also wrote off many of his good times as business expenses when he filed his income taxes. As Shusterman's embezzlement and fraud trial opened in federal court, prosecutors also said he gave $495,000 to one...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante's former fiscal officer was sentenced to three months in jail for embezzling more than $65,000 in state money he spent partly for trips to Hawaii and a down payment on a Nissan 350Z sports car. Michael Keolanui, 34, also will make restitution and serve an additional three months of home confinement. He had faced up to a year in prison under a plea bargain with federal prosecutors. He pleaded guilty in September to forging two checks totaling $53,700, felonies that could have carried a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He...