{"id":173081,"date":"2026-02-11T06:28:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/173081\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T06:28:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:28:41","slug":"an-ex-fresno-arts-council-employee-is-under-investigation-in-1-5-million-embezzlement-case-city-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/173081\/","title":{"rendered":"An ex-Fresno Arts Council employee is under investigation in $1.5 million embezzlement case, city sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story was originally published by Fresnoland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Fresno Police Department is investigating a report alleging that $1.5 million was reportedly embezzled by a now-former employee of the Fresno Arts Council, according to three high-ranking city sources.<\/p>\n

The matter was reported to local authorities last week. On Friday, Fresno City Manager Georgeanne White sent a letter to the Fresno Arts Council, officially terminating the city\u2019s contract with the nonprofit organization, which has been tasked with administering public Measure P grants.<\/p>\n

Fresno Arts Council Executive Director Lillia Chavez declined to comment. Chavez sent out a brief statement to local media around 10 p.m. Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fresno Arts Council has been the victim of unauthorized financial transactions resulting in the loss of agency funds,\u201d the Fresno Arts Council statement said. \u201cWe have reported this to the proper authorities including the city, law enforcement, and agency partners. This is a personnel issue that is currently under investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to city officials, who requested anonymity to discuss details about an ongoing police probe, the FBI is jointly investigating the report of embezzlement, alongside the Fresno Police Department.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the Fresno Police Department and the FBI did not immediately respond to Fresnoland\u2019s request for comment Saturday.<\/p>\n

It is unclear how much, or if any, of the $1.5 million under investigation consists of public money, or specifically Measure P funds. Approved at the ballot box by voters in 2018, Measure P is a three-eighths-cent local sales tax that generates funding for parks and the arts in Fresno<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under the Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Program<\/a>, 12% of Measure P revenue was set aside to be distributed to local arts organizations. In 2024, the Fresno Arts Council distributed $8.6 million in Measure P grants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Fresno Arts Council\u2019s contract with the City of Fresno for administering Measure P funds will officially terminate on Feb. 20, according to White\u2019s letter to the nonprofit organization. In the meantime, the Council is expected to return all Measure P funds to the City of Fresno, as well as all records and documents related to the Expanded Access to Arts and Culture Program.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the Fresno Arts Council is expected to stop processing all transactions related to the program.<\/p>\n

The very existence of an investigation into reported embezzlement at the agency in charge of administering public grants could crater public trust in the distribution of tax revenue that local arts organizations depend on.<\/p>\n

Over the last two years, the Fresno Arts Council\u2019s process was already fraught with confusion, frustration, criticism and controversy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last September, frustrations grew over the fact<\/a> that the subcommittee in charge of recommending which organizations get Measure P grants \u2014 along with their amounts \u2014 would make those decisions in meetings closed to the public.<\/p>\n

After local artists and advocates sounded the alarm on what they said should be a public process, the subcommittee opted to begin meeting in public<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now that the Fresno Arts Council will no longer administer Measure P grants, it\u2019s unclear who would take over that role \u2014 and whether the city\u2019s administration could cede those powers in the aftermath of a scandal.<\/p>\n

Fresnoland\u2019s Julianna Morano contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was originally published by Fresnoland. The Fresno Police Department is investigating a report alleging that $1.5…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[53107,112,80880,114,113,348,25390],"class_list":{"0":"post-173081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-embezzlement","9":"tag-fresno","10":"tag-fresno-arts-council","11":"tag-fresno-headlines","12":"tag-fresno-news","13":"tag-investigation","14":"tag-measure-p"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173081","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=173081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}