The California attorney general’s office has been asked to conduct an investigation into the misappropriation of more than $4 million by former employees of the California District Attorneys Association.
The CDAA asked for the investigation into itself after receiving an audit of internal accounting practices that showed unauthorized expenditures for funds that were specifically designated for environmental and worker safety training programs, documents show.
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“No one is more angry and disappointed than the Board and myself that these actions occurred,” said CDAA Chief Executive Officer Greg Totten. “A satisfactory resolution is our highest priority, and we are committed to restoring these funds.”
After the malfeasance was discovered in December, the CDAA brought in a new management team, including Totten, who was Ventura County’s district attorney, where he oversaw a budget of $50 million. Totten was one of the prosecutors on the case against Joseph DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer.
The CDAA receives funding for certain programs from court settlements and asset forfeitures in criminal cases. For the past 13 years, the association has been taking $2.88 million from the environmental fund and depositing it into the general fund, according to a Thursday letter from acting Attorney General Edward Ochoa.
The audit found “numerous instances in which CDAA understood that settlement proceeds were restricted funds to be used only for the designated purposes as expressly stated in the court judgments, yet not withstanding that clear information, for 13 years, CDAA improperly used restricted funds for other purposes,” Ochoa wrote to Totten. “Equally troubling … CDAA’s audited financial statements over several years inaccurately reported all revenues and net assets as unrestricted.”
Ochoa demanded that the CDAA return the funds to the account with interest within the next four years and “act swiftly” to ensure full compliance, including looking at “executive compensation arrangements.”
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Totten responded with a letter on Friday stating that the audit also found $1.2 million in asset forfeiture funds and $406,984 in high-tech training reserved that had been transferred to the general fund.
“It is very troubling that former staff members appear to have prepared and substituted reports to the Association’s independent annual auditor and the Board of Directors that did not disclose these accounting practices,” Totten wrote. “The Board and I ordered these practices to immediately cease and implemented appropriate safeguards to prevent any similar future actions. … I respectfully request that your office promptly open and conduct a thorough investigation into the improper use of asset forfeiture and high-tech funds by the CDAA staff.”
