Visit Philadelphia, a tourism marketing and development organization has encountered some problems, notably the embezzlement of $210,000 over five years by its chief financial officer.
In bad form, Visit Philadelphia chose not to notify law enforcement authorities, but allowed the CFO (who has now taken a job with another nonprofit, the Benefits Data Trust, which is largely funded by government grants) to simply quit with the promise of restitution.
Although philly.com has no information about whether restitution was paid and notwithstanding the failure of Visit Philadelphia to notify authorities, the local district attorney has launched an investigation of the embezzlement on his own. (source)
The local Carpenters union has asked the city controller to conduct a "full-scale audit" of Philadelphia's two tourism marketing agencies, which it contends have "virtually no public oversight of their spending." The Carpenters union, in its request for information, also sought CFO Joyce Levitz's expense records as well as those of any employee who earned $90,000 or more a year. The organization has declined to identify who had approved Levitt's expenses.
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