Former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Over $40 million from Conservancy

Press Release

DETROIT - William A. Smith, 52, the former Chief Financial Officer for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, pleaded guilty today to federal charges from a years-long scheme to embezzle over $40 million from the Conservancy, United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced.

Ison was joined in the announcement by Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Detroit Field Office and Charles Miller, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) Detroit Field Office.

Smith pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Both counts carry a statutory maximum term of twenty years imprisonment.

According to court documents, William A. Smith, of Northville, was employed as the Chief Financial Officer for the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, Inc. (the Conservancy) from 2011 through May 2024. The Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) organization formed with the mission of developing access to the Detroit riverfront. The Conservancy envisions creation of a continuous Riverwalk from the Ambassador Bridge in the west to Gabriel Richard Park in the east, along with plazas, pavilions, and green spaces. Funding for the Conservancy is provided by both private donors and public grants. In his position as Chief Financial Officer of the Conservancy, Smith enjoyed substantial discretion in overseeing and managing the Conservancy's financial affairs.

According to the plea agreement, beginning no later than November 2012 and continuing until May 2024, Smith orchestrated a scheme to embezzle millions of dollars in funds belonging to the DRFC. The embezzlement scheme took three principal forms:

• First, Smith diverted Conservancy funds from the organization's bank accounts to a bank account in the name of "The Joseph Group, Inc.," an entity owned and controlled by Smith. The Joseph Group was not an approved vendor for the Conservancy and provided no goods or services of any kind to the organization. However, between February 2013 and May 2024, Smith transferred approximately $24.4 million from the Conservancy's bank accounts to an account in the name of the Joseph Group.
• Second, Smith maintained an American Express account in the name of another of the many entities he owned and controlled, this one called "William Smith & Associates LLC." There were four American Express credit cards issued on this account. Between November 2012 and May 2024, Smith used approximately $14.9 million in Conservancy funds to pay off purchases made on this account. None of these expenditures were authorized by the Conservancy, which maintained other credit card accounts for Conservancy purchases. Smith used the American Express account to purchase furniture, designer clothing, handbags, lawn care services, airline tickets, and other consumer goods and services for himself and his family.
• Third, Smith used Conservancy funds to purchase cashier's checks from various financial institutions. These cashier check purchases were unauthorized, and Smith used the cashier's checks for his own purposes without the knowledge or approval of the Conservancy's Board of Directors.

Smith engaged in various practices to cover up and sustain this massive fraud scheme. In some instances, Smith falsified bank statements that he provided to the Conservancy's bookkeeper, altering or deleting unauthorized transfers on the statements in order to keep them off of the Conservancy's books. In at least one other instance, he took out a line of credit with a financial institution (Citizen's Bank) on behalf of the Conservancy. Smith claimed to be acting with the authorization of the Conservancy's Board of Directors in taking out this line of credit. In fact, Smith had no such authority, and the documents he provided Citizen's Bank purporting to show that he had such authorization were forgeries. Smith used the funds from this line of credit (which eventually totaled $5 million) to infuse monies into the Conservancy's bank accounts to help cover up his substantial embezzlement from those accounts.

According to plea documents, Smith also took complex steps to disguise the origin of the funds he embezzled from the Conservancy. He routinely transferred the stolen Conservancy monies through elaborate chains of intermediate entities, all with the intent of concealing the source and nature of those funds.

The plea agreement states that the financial losses from Smith's scheme are difficult to quantify with precision. However, Smith agreed to pay no less than $44.3 million in restitution as a result of his conduct.

"William Smith admitted today to perpetrating a financial crime that is astonishing in its scope and impact," stated United States Attorney Ison. "Smith stole over $40 million dollars from the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy - a non-profit organization dedicated to creating beautiful public spaces that Detroit's residents and visitors can use and enjoy. Smith not only betrayed the Conservancy's trust, but he betrayed the trust of the whole community, all so that he could enjoy the trappings of wealth and comfort. I remain shocked at the scale of the fraud and the harm it has caused, and today's guilty plea is an important step towards holding Mr. Smith accountable for his outrageous conduct."

"Mr. Smith's deceitful actions, which spanned for more than a decade, not only broke the trust of his employer, but the entire community," said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. "William Smith used his position of authority to financially profit at the expense of his employer. Today's guilty plea is a direct result of a tireless work of members from the FBI in Detroit. The FBI remains committed to working with our partners to combat these serious white-collar crimes."

"William Smith held a position of trust and authority in the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, an organization created to help revitalize outdoor spaces for all of the Detroit community. Such an extreme breach of that trust, millions of dollars stolen that would have benefitted the city for years to come, is almost unfathomable," said Charles Miller, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-CI, Detroit Field Office. "IRS-CI's role in this kind of investigation becomes even more important due to the complex financial transactions that can take time to unravel. With the guilty plea that was announced today, we know our work to hold Mr. Smith accountable for the outright lies and theft from the conservancy will lead to an appropriate consequence."

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The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John K. Neal and Robert A. Moran. The case is being investigated by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigations.

Updated November 15, 2024