— Resulting In 95 Percent of Funds Re-Claimed and Returned to the City’s Coffers —
Tax dollars become city funds that create new parks, improve streets and drainage systems, expand municipal services and enhance the overall lifestyle for residents. That’s why, when $3,686,712 was stolen from the City of Miami Beach in July 2016, city staff worked quickly and proactively to recover the money.
Today, the city’s diligence and dedication to the cause has resulted in recovering a total of $3,499,344 without protracted and expensive litigation. Before today the City had recovered a total of $2,063,086. At today’s meeting, the City Commission accepted a proposed settlement with STR Marketplace which includes a lump sum payment of $900,000 and a settlement agreement with SunTrust Bank totaling $536,258 plus additional interest to be earned each month through December 31, 2019.
“My commitment to our residents was to ensure every dollar was recovered and today’s report by the City Manager confirmed we’re nearly there,” shared Mayor Philip Levine proudly. “We must always protect our residents’ tax dollars and this served as an important reminder to the city to always safeguard all city accounts.”
An individual in New York was criminally charged with bank fraud and aggregated identity theft in May after stealing money from the city’s General Depository Account – a clear violation of federal law. The suspect stole by fraudulently authorizing debits from the city’s account to his personal finances, thereafter using city funds to purchase personal seat licenses for professional sporting events – planning to re-sell seat tickets through online services such as Craigslist and StubHub. Additionally, there has been no evidence that a city employee was involved in any way related to the criminal acts.
With the community’s best interest in mind, city staff continue to work towards recovering the remaining $187,368, which is anticipated to be recovered by the end of the first quarter in 2018.
Just as important as recapturing the stolen funds in their entirety, is to ensure a theft never happens again. At today’s meeting, the city’s internal auditor validated the implementation of 60 recommendations from the BDO report issued in May 2017 for strengthening the city’s internal controls. Measures taken include several steps, such as implementing ACH Fraud Controls; setting up a unique account identifier issued by financial institutions that allows organizations to receive electronic payments without divulging confidential banking information; instituting a daily review and reconciliation of all non-check disbursements, and several other security measures. These efforts have ensured that all municipal accounts are secure against future fraud and theft.
