Rita A. Crundwell (born January 10, 1953) is the appointed financial supervisor and treasurer of Dixon, Illinois, 1983-2012, and the operator confessed of what is believed to be the largest city fraud in American history. He was fired in April 2012 after it was revealed that he had embezzled $ 53.7 million from the city for 22 years to support breeding operations of American Quarter Horse breeders. He pleaded guilty to his crimes and was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison.
Crundwell's Quarter Horse breeding plantation, RC Quarter Horses, is one of the most famous in the country; his horses won 52 world championships and he was named the main owner by the American Quarter Horse Association for eight consecutive years before his capture.
Video Rita Crundwell
Early life and career
Born to Rita Humphrey, Ray's daughter and Caroline Humphrey, she grew up on her family farm near Dixon and in 1970, a year before graduating from Dixon High School, began work at Dixon Town Hall as a work-study student. He began to show a quarter of horses in 1978. He married engineering technician Jerry L. Crundwell in 1974, while working as a secretary to the mayor of Dixon; they divorced in 1986.
In 1983 Crundwell was appointed treasurer/financial overseer for Dixon, and he worked in this capacity for nearly three decades. He earned a sterling reputation; for example in 2011, one of the city's commissaries praised Crundwell for managing the city's finances, saying "he keeps every tax dollar as if it were his own."
Maps Rita Crundwell
Darkness
On December 8, 1990; Crundwell opens a secret bank account called RSCDA (Reserve Sewer Capital Development Account), making it appear as a city account. He's the only signer. He will deposit the money into another account called the Capital Development Fund, create a fake country invoice, and then write a check of the funds paid to the "Treasurer," which he will deposit to the RSCDA account. According to federal investigators, this relatively uncomplicated scheme continues for 22 years.
On average, Crundwell stole almost $ 2.5 million per year from the city. In 1991 he stole $ 181,000, while in 2008 alone he managed to embezzle $ 5.8 million from the city with an annual budget of $ 8-9 million. Not only did he use the money to finance his Quarter Horse operations, but also to support a lifestyle beyond his city's $ 80,000 salary. Among other things, he bought several cars, a second house, and a million-dollar motorcycle.
Crundwell covered up his embezzlement by claiming the city's frequent budget shortage was because the state was late in paying part of its taxes on tax revenues. He forced the city department to make drastic cuts to keep the budget reasonable. As a result, employees go two years or more without a raise and the police department can not get a new radio. However, the most noticeable effect is on road maintenance. The city was forced to lay off three of the nine road repair workers and cut maintenance levels. In the decade before the capture of Crundwell, only 65 road segments were repaired or replaced.
For most of Crundwell's tenure, people believed him even though the city's economic conditions were dangerous. They assumed that he inherited wealth and/or that the poultry-winning horse-ridden business was profitable in its own right. In the late 2000s, with the financial crisis and economic recession, when municipal maintenance and equipment suffered, there was some suspicion that he stole money, which was as high as Mayor James G. Burke. However, out-of-town auditors Clifton Gunderson (now CliftonLarsonAllen after joining LarsonAllen in 2012) and local accountant Sam Card, dismissed his worries, as they assume that Crundwell is honest and signed Crundwell's financial statements every year regardless. For small American cities similar to Dixon, lack of adequate external auditing is a recurring problem, since third-party auditors can pay little attention at best. For most of his tenure as a financial overseer, Crundwell almost had full control over the city account, while only a few city employees had access to the city's financial statements.
Caught and captured
In the fall of 2011, when Crundwell was on a long vacation, city clerk Kathe Swanson, acting as acting supervisor in Crundwell's absence, found the account and many of the checks written on it. Swanson suspects that this is not a valid city account, and brings that information to Burke, who contacts the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Fraud continues for another six months, as Burke and Swanson (whose payroll is controlled by Crundwell) must remain silent while the FBI builds their case.
Crundwell arrived to work on April 17, 2012 to look for a FBI agent waiting for him. He was arrested on that day and was charged by a federal jury for embezzling $ 30 million from the city for the past six years. He was charged with one charge of wire fraud and was released on bail of $ 4,500 the following day. On May 2, 2012, the alleged suicide accused him of embezzling $ 53 million over the past 22 years.
On November 14, 2012, Crundwell pleaded guilty before Judge Philip Reinhard to one count of wire fraud. As part of the deal, he also recognizes money laundering by using stolen money to finance his Quarter Horse operations. He was asked to lose more than $ 53.7 million in cash, assets and possessions, equivalent to stolen amounts, used to make full restitution to the city. He reportedly told the FBI agents that some of the money was spent on his horses and their care. Prosecutors sought to lose a horse farm and 300 horses, alongside three luxurious homes and motor vehicles. The prosecutor later discovered that Crundwell's crime had begun since 1988, when he sucked $ 25,000 from Dixon Sister City's program for two years. If she does not plead guilty, she will face additional allegations of bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering that can send her to jail for the rest of her life.
The following month, Dixon's new finance director said the city had rebounded nearly 3 million dollars since Crundwell's arrest, but his operating budget was less than $ 16.6 million. It was also reported that Dixon lost $ 30 million in operating funds over the previous decade. The city is suing its outside auditors, as well as the city banker, Third Fifth Bank, for ignoring many red flags in Crundwell's actions. In September 2013, auditors and Fifth Third agreed to pay the city $ 40 million in settlement, while the Crundwell asset auction yielded more than $ 9 million.
Sentenced on 14 February 2013; prosecutors seek a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Their case was reinforced by testimony from Moore and city staff that Crundwell used a dramatic analogy to force spending cuts to cover up his theft, which made Dixon unable to provide the most basic services. The defense asked for 13 years, saying that Crundwell had worked with authorities to recover the money. In the end, Reinhard punished 19-year-old Crundwell and 7 months in prison, close to what the prosecutor sought. Reinhard noted that he put his spirits to raising horses before the needs of city dwellers who entrust him with their funds, and that significant prison sentences are needed to restore public confidence. Reinhard was so disgusted with Crundwell's behavior that he withdrew his guarantees and returned them to custody instead of letting him report to prison. Crundwell appealed the sentence, claiming that it was too cruel. However, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the verdict in November.
On September 20, 2012, Crundwell was also charged over 60 state theft cases, alleging that he stole $ 11.2 million from April 2010 until the day before he was arrested on federal charges. Burke and Lee County State lawyers Henry Dixon said the state accusations, which were made at least six years per count, were reserves in Crundwell's case released on federal allegations. The state's allegations were dropped in April 2013. Dixon's successor as state's lawyer, Anna Sacco-Miller, said it was unreasonable to spend taxpayer money to sue Crundwell, since there was virtually no asset left for the state to seize (although Dixon initially said he did not have plans to seize assets from him). Sacco-Miller also said that because Illinois's punishment guidelines require states and federal sentences to go together, Crundwell is likely to serve state-level punishments while he is still in federal prison.
The case is profiled on CNBC's American Greed , as well as on CBC's "The Fifth Estate" and is the subject of the documentary "All The Queen's Horses" 2017 by Kartemquin Films.
Crundwell is currently imprisoned in the Federal Penitentiary in Pekin, Illinois. She is scheduled to be released on March 5, 2030.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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