At a time when theaters and orchestras nationwide were suffering through the economic downturn, Ralph Clark found a way to make the arts pay. Clark started working at the Woodruff Arts Center in 2004 as a heating and air conditioning mechanic. In June 2006, Clark was promoted to Director of Facilities at the Woodruff Arts Center. He had been acting in this capacity for several months before he was promoted. His duties included ensuring that the Arts Center was properly maintained. In that position, Clark was authorized to approve vendor contracts of up to $50,000. In one (of several) schemes, Clark submitted about $780,000 in bogus invoices to the Woodruff from Lowe's Services, a business on paper in his wife's name, for goods and services that were never provided. After the accounts payable department received the invoice, they generated the checks and Clark would then pick the checks up in person, and deposit them into accounts on which he had signatory authority. Between November 2005 and October 2012, Clark embezzled more than $1.1 million from the Woodruff Arts Center. Clark was sentenced to two years, six months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay approximately $1 million in restitution.
1. What type of scheme is this? Provide the overarching type of scheme as well as the specific sub-scheme.
2. Provide one control that could have helped prevent this.
3. Given an example of a pressure that might have led the fraudster to commit this crime (different from your other short answer examples).
4. Give an example of a rationalization the fraudster might have used (different from your other short answer examples).
Please number your responses below.
