Vermont Tops List of States For Highest Major Embezzlement Risk

From the Burlington Free Press on 1/1/2015:

For the third time in six years, Vermont has been named No. 1 in America ...
As the riskiest state for major embezzlements.

And Vermont has some of the shorter prison sentences for those caught dipping into the till, according to the latest annual report by Marquet International.

A six-year snapshot shows Vermont is the most likely to lead the list for embezzlements among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

"Anyway you cut it, there is an awful lot of embezzlement going on in Vermont," Christopher T. Marquet, the company's chief executive officer, told the Burlington Free Press this week.

The major cases in Vermont touched across a wide spectrum: a credit union, a private college, a tourist attraction, a nonprofit sports association, a village inn, a discount beverage store, an auto dealer and a law firm, operated by the son of a former U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Marquet has been studying embezzlement nationwide for six years and focuses on those of $100,000 or more for its annual reports. The annual report is 50 pages including charts and graphs.

There were 554 known cases meeting that threshold for the calendar 2013 study, which was completed about six months late due to unforeseen circumstances, Marquet said.

He said the 554 cases represents a 5 percent increase over the 528 cases in 2012 that had losses of $100,000 or more.

Last year Vermont was followed in the high-risk category by the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Montana, South Dakota, Virginia, Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri.

But everything is relative.

The largest embezzlement reported during 2013 was a stunning $133.4 million fraud conspiracy in West Texas. Two men masterminded a conspiracy to defraud mom-and-pop stores by offering payroll, tax and insurance services, Marquet said.

Second and third place were $21 million and $20 million respectively. The top 10 cases nationwide ended at $8.44 million.

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Read the whole story here.

Download the 2013 Marquet Report on Embezzlement and other Marquet white papers here.