Rodney Ellis, the former financial officer of Sumter Behavioral Health Services (SBHS), a Sumter, S.C.-based nonprofit substance abuse assistance and treatment organization, pleaded guilty to diverting more than $800,000 from the organization to his personal bank accounts, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina. Ellis had been employed by SBHS between 2002 and December 2020, according to…

Violence in Boston (VIB), a Boston-based nonprofit that focused on disparities around violence in communities of color, has shut down in the wake of fraud, conspiracy and false statement charges lodged against its founder and CEO, Monica Cannon-Grant, and her husband, Clark Grant, who served as a founding director of VIB. Both were charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, two counts of wire fraud…

Kyriakos “Rick” Kapiris, who served as information technology manager Venture Community Services in Sturbridge, Mass, pleaded guilty in federal court in Worcester, Mass., to two counts of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. The charges stemmed from activities Kapiris undertook while employed at the organization. Venture Community Services provides outreach, residential and transportation services for developmentally disabled people throughout Massachusetts. Kapiris began embezzling…

Embroiled in a lawsuit against an Israeli spyware company, Apple has made a $10 million grant to the Ford Foundation’s Dignity and Justice Fund (DJF) that in turn will award grants to civil society groups working to prevent cyberattacks and cybersurveillance. Beyond the $10 million — the first funds to be deposited in the newly-created DJF — Apple has pledged to DJF any money it…

Carol Jackson, the former founder and executive director of the On Track Community Development Corporation, has pleaded guilty to fraud, according to a statement from the Mississippi Office of the State Auditor. Mississippi District Attorney Dewayne Richardson’s office prosecuted the case. A sentencing date has not yet been set. According to the Auditor’s office statement, Moorhead, Miss.-based On Track Community Development Corporation was engaged to…

The former finance director for a healthcare nonprofit in Westchester County, N.Y. has been charged with embezzling more than $700,000 from the agency during a four-year period. Ingrid Aquino, 31, of Bronx, N.Y., was indicted by a Westchester County, N.Y., grand jury for grand larceny following her arrest by investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. Aquino is the former director of finance for…

Corrine Brown, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-Fla.), pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in a corrupt endeavor to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws. Chief Judge Timothy J. Corrigan sentenced Brown to time already served in prison. Brown, 75, was also ordered to pay $62,650.99 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. She waived…

Linda Greene, 73, president and CEO of Impact With Hope, a faith-based charity based in Perrysburg, Ohio, posted $5,000 against $50,000 bail. Greene’s need for bail stems from her allegedly continuing to serve as leader of Impact With Hope, including continuing to solicit funds.  That’s in violation of a 2021 indictment and subsequent court order barring her from contact with Impact With Hope personnel or…

New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a civil complaint against two trust and estates attorneys, claiming they inappropriately diverted funds meant for a charitable foundation. According to the complaint, lawyers Paul P. Marchese and Robin S. Maynard, sole partners in Marchese & Maynard LLP of Manhasset, N.Y., inappropriately garnered more than $1.3 million from the estate of, and a foundation established by,…

Andrew Badolato and Brian Kolfage, two principals in We Build The Wall, an alleged 501(c)(4) nonprofit established to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, pled guilty to their roles in defrauding donors to the fundraising campaign. The pleas were entered before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York. The scheme started in December 2018 as a GoFundMe campaign…

In the technical, legal sense, “whistleblowing” involves invoking formal processes established by statute for a person (usually an employee) to protect herself/himself from retaliation for reporting alleged violations of certain laws.  According to Tim Delaney is the president and chief executive officer of the National Council of Nonprofits in Washington, D.C., most whistleblower laws are relatively new, as are the terms “whistleblowing” and “whistleblower.” (Neither…