Megan Cassidy, Jan. 15, 2021]
A hefty settlement with Wal-Mart in 2015 brought the California District Attorney’s Association $450,000, funds that were supposed to help bring future public-interest environmental litigation. The money was among nearly $3 million recently found to have been misspent …
El Dorado County District Attorney and California District Attorneys Association President Vern Pierson at a news conference in Placerville, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020 …
The California District Attorneys Association, a statewide advocacy group for prosecutors, siphoned nearly $3 million that was supposed to be used for public-advocacy litigation and used it to fund training and lobbying, according to a recent audit of the group’s finances … a practice of “borrowing” funds obtained from workplace and environmental settlements since 2004, “during periods when CDAA experienced cash flow shortfalls.” The agency repeatedly padded its general fund with money earmarked for specific purposes, the audit found …
The association’s board of directors said it will reimburse the $2.88 million that was absorbed into the general fund, but allowed for the repayment plan to stretch over several years.
The group’s auditors did not make any accusations of illegal activity, but the results were sent to the State Attorney General’s office for review. …
The audit was commissioned last summer by the Prosecutors’ Association after its CEO became concerned that money assigned for specific causes was being improperly spent …
the group had incorrectly considered those and many other funds received to be “unrestricted and available for general use.” …
Vern Pierson, El Dorado County district attorney and association president, said the group has regularly returned the borrowed funds throughout the years and has started to pay back some of the $2.88 million. The group “took specific steps,” Pierson said, to stop the improper spending once the practice came to light. Pierson added the association’s regular, annual audits also never noticed the miscategorization of the funds or directed the association to correct the problem. … “Even though the money was lawfully CDAA money, it had a restriction on it and the restriction should have been honored.”
Read More Here:https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Audit-finds-state-district-attorney-group-15868701.php
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