The acting president of a small Vermont liberal arts college, Southern Vermont College, was found dead in an apparent suicide amid an investigation into the embezzlement of $440,000 in school funds. James Beckwith’s body was discovered the same day federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint involving the alleged misappropriation of college money.
Beckwith was accused of taking the money between October 2012 and
January while serving as acting president of the school in
Bennington. Authorities said he deposited the money into a personal account,
using $260,000 to pay down two mortgages.
Prosecutors said Beckwith had college
officials issue three checks to Merrill Lynch, saying they were to settle legal
claims arising from a failed dormitory project. But the checks for $100,000,
$160,000 and $180,000 were deposited into a personal account, prosecutors said.
A recent audit of the college's finances for
the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2012, found several suspicious financial
transactions involving purported vendor payments by Beckwith, the U.S.
attorney's office said.
When questioned about the matter, Beckwith
resigned on Feb. 3
Beckwith had been
chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the college since 2007.
He served as acting president while school president Karen Gross was on a
one-year leave as a senior policy adviser to the U.S. Education Department.
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