Town ups lost assets claim resulting from ‘sophisticated’ fraud scheme

The EDA action or lack thereof, continues at the Warren County Courthouse. Royal Examiner File Photos/Roger Bianchini

In addressing the Town of Front Royal’s amendment to its lawsuit upping its estimate of lost assets due to financial fraud in the workings of the local Economic Development Authority from $3 million to $15 million, Town Attorney Doug Napier commented on what he perceived as a somewhat surprising degree of sophistication in how alleged embezzlement and misdirection of EDA, and consequently Town, assets was accomplished.

In its July 12 filing to amend the amount being sought for recovery from the EDA, the Town legal department notes that the “Financial Study” it had unsuccessfully been seeking a copy of from Warren County and the EDA over several months of FOIA requests had been “voluntarily” sent to it by County-contracted investigative accounting firm Cherry Bekaert. Information from that 2900-page report on signs of fraud within the EDA in hand, Town staff amended its original complaint upward by $12 million.

Asked about the additional loss estimate Napier told Royal Examiner, “During our review of the Cherry Bekaert financial study of the EDA, including the interviews of the EDA Board of Director and staff members some new facts and circumstances were brought to light which caused me to think that the Town’s consequential damages in particular, and even direct damages, might be larger than the Town had originally thought. So I thought the Town would be well served by getting out in front of this.”

Speaking of peripheral losses – what’s up with the Afton Inn in the wake of the project being cited by Cherry Bekaert as a conduit for McDonald embezzlements? That $2.5 million redevelopment Albatross is hard for town staff to ignore across the street from Town Hall.

Asked to elaborate, Napier added, “There are some indirect losses – we can’t blame it all, or say she took it all herself. But there are consequential damages or peripheral losses, a sort of ripple effect. And we wanted to be careful and aim higher, rather than lower in estimating our total losses.”

“She” is former EDA Executive Director Jennifer McDonald, jailed since May 24 on financial fraud charges. Related to some of the Cherry Bekaert information Napier observed, “In ways it is really complicated – her ability to figure out how to alter the books, forge documents – if what is in the report is what happened, if the (EDA) board is telling the truth about not signing those documents, it is really sophisticated. It makes you wonder if she had an advisor or she’s just really smart, or both. I really don’t know – but it took somebody who really knew what they were doing, to pull off.”

In the Town’s initial June 21st filing of a nine-page civil action against the EDA there was scathing criticism of a lack of oversight of McDonald through 2018, even after the May 2018 Town staff discovery of years of debt service overpayments to the EDA totaling over $291,000; and an apparently volatile August 23 confrontation between town officials and auditors with McDonald in the presence of then-EDA Board Chairman Greg Drescher and EDA Attorney Dan Whitten.

Somebody in town government was paying attention prior to mid 2018 – Councilwoman Bébhinn Egger faces off with Jennifer McDonald in October 2016. Unfortunately, none of Egger’s colleagues were paying attention.

“It was Town employees and agents who, on August 23, 2018, caused McDonald to admit, in person and while in the presence of the EDA/County Attorney and in the presence of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the EDA, that McDonald had personally submitted false, and thereby knowingly and fraudulently, billing invoices to the Town for payment … Notwithstanding the events of August 23, 2018, the EDA Board of Directors, inexplicably, allowed McDonald to retain her position as Executive Director of the EDA with all of her rights, privileges and duties as before, with no known restrictions as such,” paragraphs 18-B and 18-D on page seven of the nine page complaint states.

As Royal Examiner reported at the time “inexplicably” was the operative word in the Town suit’s description of EDA board and staff behavior over the following four months preceding McDonald’s resignation under mounting evidence from the EDA and County’s own investigation by contracted accounting firm Cherry Bekaert.

“The EDA Board of Directors inexplicably did not immediately fire or otherwise discipline McDonald … inexplicably did not restrict McDonald’s access to the EDA offices or her duties … inexplicably did not immediately call law enforcement to investigate McDonald or her activities … not withstanding that the Town’s auditor on that date rightfully and appropriately personally called out McDonald for committing fraud upon the Town in the presence of McDonald … the EDA’s Chairman of its Board of Directors and in the presence of the EDA’s attorney,” paragraph 18-D of the initial Town complaint reads.

Better late than never – EDA board members and legal staff oversee the lockdown of Jennifer McDonald’s computer, work cell phone and office following announcement of her Dec. 20, 2018 resignation. Town officials wonder why such action didn’t come at least four months earlier.

But if the EDA and County Boards remained “inexplicably” oblivious to possible financial misdeeds by McDonald post-August 23, the Town did not.

“It was the Town …who almost immediately after August 23, 2018 contacted the Virginia State Police (VSP) and requested a complete law enforcement investigation of the EDA and McDonald, which the Virginia State Police immediately began, and continue to investigate to this date,” the Town complaint of June 21, 2019 reads.

The June 21st Town Complaint was served on two of those involved in that August 23, 2018 meeting: Whitten at his County Office as EDA attorney and McDonald at the Fairfax Adult Detention Center to which she was transferred from RSW Jail on June 11. The third recipient was new EDA Executive Director Doug Parsons, served at his Kendrick Lane EDA office. Parsons told Royal Examiner on July 17 that he hopes an accurate assessment of any money owed to either municipality by the EDA can be agreed upon and that the EDA will eventually be able to make right on its legally-verified debt to both the Town and County.

McDonald was arrested by VSP on May 24, after the first four of what now stands at 12 felony embezzlement and fraudulent movement of EDA assets indictments were handed down by the Warren County Special Grand Jury empanelled on April 1, 2019.

That empanelment followed a March 26 request to do so by Warren County Commonwealth Attorney Brian Madden. Madden’s request came the same day the EDA’s $17.6 million civil suit was filed. That suit is now amended up to $21.1 million the EDA is seeking recovery of from McDonald, her two real estate companies and five other surviving defendants: ITFederal and its CEO Truc “Curt” Tran; Earth Right Energy LLC and its principals Donald Poe and Justin Appleton.

A ninth defendant, former Warren County Sheriff Daniel McEathron, died on May 28 from what VSP described as “an unattended death with a firearm nearby”. McEathron was named in the suit due to his involvement in McDonald’s two real estate businesses and financial questions surrounding development of the criminal justice police training academy the EDA was involved in.
Recent motions filing in that EDA civil action will be the subject of coming Royal Examiner stories. In fact, a motions hearing on the EDA civil suit scheduled for today (Wednesday, July 17) was continued to an as-yet-undetermined date due to the judicial shuffling occurring in the wake of Judge William W. Sharpe’s July 12 recusal from all EDA matters.

McDonald criminal plea hearing postponed

At the time of the special grand jury empanelment request Madden said, “Since August of last year we have been working with the Virginia State Police as they investigated suspicious financial activities. Yesterday’s lawsuit filed by the EDA’s attorneys raises issues that are not presently being addressed by the VSP.

Local authorities, VSP and the FBI worked together during April 16 search of EDA headquarters and Jennifer McDonald’s office, the latter unused and apparently sealed since her Dec. 20, 2018 resignation.

“In reviewing the bill of complaint most of the allegations arise from an outside investigation conducted at the EDA’s request. To date this office has not been able to review any report generated by the outside investigation,” Madden observed.

Madden requests, Athey empanels special grand jury in EDA case

In the wake of Judge Athey’s May 22 order that EDA civil counsel produce the evidence upon which its now $21.1-million civil action is based, that is no longer true – even for the Town of Front Royal which had initially been blocked by EDA and County officials in its efforts to acquire information on the EDA fraud investigation.