Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Oklahoma Beef Council Sues Former Auditor

Greg Henderson

A lawsuit filed Monday by the Oklahoma Beef Council seeks to recover $2.6 million in embezzled funds. The suit, filed in the District Court of Oklahoma County against Edmond-based accounting firm Arledge & Associates, P.C., relates to the embezzlement of Oklahoma checkoff funds by one of OBC's former employees, Melissa Morton. In May, Morton pled guilty to embezzling the money between 2009 and 2016, and tax fraud. Her sentencing date is scheduled for Dec. 28, and she faces up to 30 years in prison. The lawsuit filed by OBC alleges that Arledge & Associates performed audits of OBC for the fiscal years 2012-2015, and for those audited years, Arledge issued clean, unqualified opinions that the financial statements presented fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of OBC. However, Jim Denton, a CPA and Arledge & Associates’ managing partner, said the OBC’s bookkeeping materials already had been altered to conceal any evidence of embezzlement before his firm’s auditors ever saw them...more

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