Former Riverfront Conservancy CFO faces embezzlement charges

William A. Smith is accused of stealing nearly $40 million over 11 years while he was CFO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy to pay for airline tickets, hotels, limos, household goods, lawn care, clothing and jewelry.

Why it matters: Federal prosecutors charged Smith today with bank and wire fraud charges following an FBI investigation that started last month.

The big picture: The conservancy is funded through private and public funds to develop the riverfront, including a $40 million grant in 2018 from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation and $2.5 million in 2020 from the U.S. EPA .

• Smith was fired last week and the conservancy is exploring a potential civil lawsuit against him.

The latest: Smith made an initial appearance today downtown in federal court. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond, court records show.

• Smith's preliminary examination is scheduled for June 26.
• Neither Smith nor his attorney, Gerald Evelyn, responded to Axios' messages seeking comment.

What they're saying: "This defendant is alleged to have abused the trust the Conservancy placed in him and to have carried out a fraud that is simply astonishing in scale," Dawn Ison, the U.S. Attorney based in Detroit, said in a statement.

Riverfront Conservancy chairman Matt Cullen said in a statement: "We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement to ensure justice is brought against this nefarious scheme to subvert layers of financial controls and embezzle resources from one of the greatest waterfront projects in the United States."

Zoom in: Prosecutors allege that Smith used Conservancy funds to pay off charges that Smith and his family racked up on an American Express account.

• Smith is also accused of diverting money from the Conservancy to The Joseph Group, a company he controlled that provided no services to the Conservancy, according to charging documents.
• He allegedly falsified documents to conceal his activities and to secure a $5 million line of credit on the Conservancy's behalf to further his scheme.