Ethicast Reacts – Embezzlement at the Detroit River Conservancy

An embezzlement case of epic proportions shines a bright light on the importance of internal controls and speak-up culture, as federal prosecutors seek a sentence of 18 years for the former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO William Smith for embezzling $44.3 million from the nonprofit over 10 years. In this episode, Ethisphere Chief Strategy Officer, Erica Salmon Byrne, offers some much-needed ethics and compliance context on what we can learn from this oversight failure, and how to prevent it at your organization.

https://www.ethisphere.com/resources

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/04/14/how-former-detroit-riverfront-cfo-embezzled-40-million-undetected-for-over-a-decade/

https://www.axios.com/local/detroit/2024/08/23/detroit-riverfront-conservancy-searches-for-new-auditor

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300125283/202433209349321323/full
2:36: What are we to learn from the auditor’s role in this?
3:31: What can we learn about speak-up culture here?
5:30: How can E&C programs prevent such epic corruption?
8:08: How can Board rotation discover this kind of fraud?
#ethics #compliance #corruption #detroit
Ethisphere Resource Center: https://www.ethisphere.com/resources
News link: https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2025/04/14/how-former-detroit-riverfront-cfo-embezzled-40-million-undetected-for-over-a-decade/
News link: https://www.axios.com/local/detroit/2024/08/23/detroit-riverfront-conservancy-searches-for-new-auditor
News link: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300125283/202433209349321323/full