Well, after the story aired last night, our FB page blew up with angry people (at the ex-pres) and with support for us. It is really heart-warming to see. :).
SLS- 2-3 years this went on. The president was a good con man- we don't understand it either. The treasurer tried telling everyone that things weren't adding up but no one believed him. Honestly, most of the people that were in charge (most of them have been forced out now) barely had high school educations and many, many people at the top were getting money in one way or another (we live in Ford capital- NO one has jobs). That's how it went "unnoticed" for so long.
I guess I am wondering why the league didn't believe the Treasurer. They are the ones getting the financial reports.
I am also questioning how the President had full access to their accounts. I have been Treasurer of a sports team in the past. Even though we would require 2 signatures for a check, I had possession of the checkbook and the statements came to my residence. If I was off more than $10, I would panic. (Usually it was an addition/subtraction error).
That's a lot of money to disappear. How long did it take for it to go poof?
Generally for white collar crime there is a rationlization that the money will be "repaid" or that the perp is somehow "entitled" to the funds or at least "temporary" use of same.
All dishonesty starts with a lie the perp convinces themselves is truth.
No man is a villain in his own mind. "I honestly don't see how I could have acted differently!".
Some of you know that I help run a basketball league. The parent organization is about to go under because our ex-president stole nearly $100k (that we KNOW of) from the organization. Here's some of the story:
My dad was the first person to notice the missing money, and he called him out on it. My dad was subsequently banned until the expresident was removed. The ex-president broke into the building in the middle of the night and attempted to remove every document from the last 3 years. My ex was able to pull up most of the files from the computer that he had attempted to erase and we realized just how much money was missing.
The treasurer told everyone that there was money missing and then resigned because no one would believe him. (I have known him for years- he would NEVER take money from WYAA.) Eventually, anyone who opposed the ex-president was removed until he was finally forced out by a coup (seriously... this is how far it went).
Now, this league is in danger of shutting down. It's really the only decently priced one in the area and it serves many, many needy kids. I played in this league for nearly 10 years, coached for 5, have been on the board for 2, and have been a VP and President of basketball for 3. There are very few people in this world that I legitmately hate. This man (and I use that term loosely) is one of them.
Seriously. How anyone could steal from KIDS is beyond me. It makes me sick. These parents are struggling enough...
