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William Smith enjoying life (U.S. Attorney photo)
Better late than never? More than $40 million late.
The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which saw its Chief Financial Officer, William A. Smith, steal more than $40 million over a span of more than 11 years, has announced major reforms to create more checks and balances to avoid a future scandal.
The Detroit Free Press reports:
The steps include enacting a formal whistleblower policy, setting up an ethics hotline, rotating auditors to “ensure fresh perspectives,” shrinking its board from 55 to 30 members, and limiting their terms to nine years, according to a Monday press release.
Other reforms include the audit committee hiring an independent firm every three to five years to review internal controls, in line with industry best practices, and a finance committee reviewing banking relationships yearly while using “advanced analytics and AI tools ... to spot trends and potential concerns,” the Free Press reports.
In April, U.S. District Judge Susan DeClercq sentenced Smith to 19 years in prison, telling him, “How you spent money is appalling. It was vulgar.”
The sentencing capped an ugly chapter in Detroit’s history — and certainly one for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, which had been a feel-good, benevolent nonprofit whose donors saw their good intentions wasted.
Federal prosecutors stated in a 35-page sentencing memorandum filed in early April in U.S. District Court in Detroit:
“Smith spent the embezzled funds almost exclusively on goods and services for himself, his family, and his personal associates. Smith’s lifestyle was lavish and his tastes extravagant. Over the course of his scheme, Smith spent enormous sums of money on basketball tickets, cruises, private jet travel, designer clothing, jewelry, and other trappings of wealth and comfort.”
He also gave $3.7 million to a romantic interest identified in court documents as S.R. and leased her a Maserati. The documents described the woman as an associate who became romantically involved with Smith.
