The city of Fresno is releasing updates on the Measure P embezzlement case, where public funds were allegedly taken by a former employee.<\/p>\n
As the investigation into that employee continues with the FBI, the city says the longtime employee had left the Fresno Arts Council just a few weeks before the news came to light.<\/p>\n
For now, the city says it’s working to ensure the lost money still reaches local artists.<\/p>\n
Alicia Rodriguez is one of 30 artists who received Measure P funding, a sales tax that dedicates a portion to local artists.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez uses that money to host galleries that showcase the work of underrepresented artists<\/p>\n
Now, she’s uncertain about the future of her events after the money she’s been promised was embezzled, according to investigators.<\/p>\n
“A lot is going on in the world right now. In our respective communities, we’re feeling that as well with the larger climate that we’re facing. But then they come and poke our dreams,” said Alicia Rodriguez, a Fresno Artist.<\/p>\n
The city says 82% of Measure P funds have been distributed.<\/p>\n
The remaining 18%, or $ 1.5 million, was allegedly embezzled by a former Fresno Arts Council employee.<\/p>\n
That number could have been higher. Mayor Jerry Dyer says a $6.6 million request from the FAC was denied for failing to meet agreement requirements.<\/p>\n
“It’s our understanding that there was a desire to utilize round three funding to offset whatever loss occurred in round two,” said Jerry Dyer, the Mayor of Fresno.<\/p>\n
And now, the city is learning that there were no proper safeguards in place for that money.<\/p>\n
“Any nonprofit is required to follow accounting principles, basic principles, and the fact that, for over a long period of time, somebody was able to fleece them and, in reality, fleece our taxpayers of one and a half million dollars or more. It’s unacceptable,” said Mike Karbassi, a Fresno Councilmember.<\/p>\n
The city is still required to have a partnership with the FAC; the city will now be in charge of the funds.<\/p>\n
FOX26 reporter Dania Romero went to FAC’s office to look for answers.<\/p>\n
After denying answering any of my questions, we asked:<\/p>\n
\u201cCan people at least expect a statement for any updates? <\/p>\n
The person working in the front replied, “No comment.”<\/p>\n
Rodriguez says they’ve been getting similar responses.<\/p>\n
“That’s something that touches on the transparency issue that we’ve been vocalizing heavily,” said Alicia Rodriguez, a Fresno Artist.<\/p>\n
The city says they heard about this case on Thursday, and are still figuring out ways to recover the funds.<\/p>\n
For now, artists who have not been compensated can reach out to the city by calling (559)-621-2999 or emailing ExpandedArts@fresno.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Fresno is releasing updates on the Measure P embezzlement case, where public funds were allegedly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-172925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}