DETROIT – A man admitted to stealing $40 million from a prominent Detroit nonprofit group with a 12-year embezzlement scheme.
William Smith, the former chief financial officer for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, faces up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Friday, Nov. 15 to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering, according to a news release from the U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Dawn Ison.
A plea agreement shows Smith orchestrated a scheme from November 2012 until May 2024 to embezzle millions of dollars from the Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that formed with the goal of developing access to the Detroit riverfront. Funding for the Conservancy came from public donors and public grants…