Legal Niches

Wii, Gears of War Part of Wisconsin Embezzlement Scheme

By pete_gallagher

A probe into the misuse of city funds by management information systems employees vendors of the Wisconsin city of Fond du Lac turned up money spent on videogames and will result in criminal charges.

Over $200,000 in municipal funds was spent illegally by four MIS employees and two city vendors, all of whom have been, or will soon be, charged in the embezzlement scheme according to the FDLReporter. Money was spent on items including an infant kangaroo costume, a Nintendo Wii bundle and even an $87 ham. Additional items seized under the investigation included a copy of Gears of War and 16 guns, 'three or four' of which were suspected of being purchased with taxpayer funds.

Checks and balances designed to stave off such improper spending were easily circumvented, in part, because MIS employees new their supervisor's password.

Items that were able to be physically recovered are being stored at the police department and may be sold at auction so the city can recover some money.

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on July 16, 2010 (boomark / email).