ATTN: Everyone, concerning Riley and his position as CFO

Well damn.

I think that about sums it up.

I'm pissed. He didn't just steal from the Tower, he stole from *me*. That was my payment for Fall Ball, my payment for my vacation with my husband, my money. I'm not like Caerwyn, just let the money roll off my back, because I don't have a lot. I have to watch every penny, and to have it just yanked away by Riley because he couldn't ask for help and instead had to steal from me, from my friends, from the Tower? I think pissed is an understatement; I might be nearing irate with Aryawnah.

Also, how did this happen? Does no one else watch the bank account? Did no one else get the statements? How does thousands of dollars disappear from a bank account with at least 2 people on it without there being some kind of flag raised? Are there checks and balances? Does anyone besides the Treasurer review the bank statements? Y'all just had your fall admin meeting; was nothing reviewed there as far as funds? No documentation provided to prove the funds were there? Or had he drained the account since the meeting? I just don't understand how this can happen.

/rant

Rhed, we understand we truly do and we're working on it. Right now we've taken what immediate actions we can and we're assessing what happens next. With regards to Fall Ball, there is a specific thread for it and we are working on a contingency plan as we speak.

There are checks and balances, and at the meeting we were assured that all was well. As you can see, everyone is shocked, hurt and angry. We are all working to fix this and see where we can go from here, so please rest assured that something WILL be done. It's not much of a consolation, but we will be offering all we can as answers when we get them.

I'm very shocked at all this and at the moment I don't trust myself to remain calm and collected in a post. So for now I think the only thing I can do is this:

:grouphug

Tai'shar Tar Valon.

I don't even know what to say. Thank you Mother, Board, Execs, for all your hard work in trying to rectify this horrible situation. Please let the rest of us know any way we can help.

What to say?

I'm failing miserably in expressing myself here, so I'l try to keep it simple:
Many thanks Mother for putting your personal wealth into keeping our community financially afloat.
I'm shocked and disgusted by this betrayal of trust and I hope that the board with pursue this matter; no betrayal should ever be accepted or a blind eye turned.
I had to read the initial post a couple of times, I just couldn't have believed it of Riley.

I am pretty shocked. WOW.

This is shocking and really sad Lots of respect and thanks to those who have handled the situation so quickly and responsibly.

I know it must be even more of a shock to those who know Riley as a friend, and can easily understand being angry to have lost money personally and the sense of betrayal expressed by so many. I'm so encouraged though by the gracious comments I've read in this thread. Keep being kind - I think that's real strength. Tai'shar Tar Valon :grouphug

I'm shocked, and angry. Having your trust betrayed is the worst pain. I can't believe he did this.

Thanks and much respect to Mother, the Board, and Admins for their quick and decisive actions.

Tai'shar Tar Valon :grouphug

To say that I am shocked doesn't really cover it. As appalled as I am at Riley's actions, I'm just as appalled that this was even allowed to happen.

Sa'areah Britthorn said:

There are checks and balances, and at the meeting we were assured that all was well.

Click to expand...

Asking someone what the balance of the account is and them giving you an answer is not checks and balances. Not even close.

Devastated is the word. He is my friend. The first person other than my sister that I met on the Tower. We were close and I knew he has severe financial trouble, but not this bad. I can't imagine how bad is must have been for him to do this. He feels just awful and is getting depressed over this. This is atypical action of him.
Mas he has been banned he won't be making a statement here. And he was very worried abou fallout on me. I don't know what to say other than he will remain my friend. And my love for Vivi, Eleyan and the community at large has not changed. I'm so sorry for everyone

Oh no

I'm very anxious to see which changes will be put in place to make sure this never happens again. And I hope Riley gets the help he needs. Something must be very off if he found that taking from us to be the best option for him.

And I'm glad that everyone posting is being decent.

Riley...

When I got up this morning I wasn't expecting my heart to break (does anyone ever expect that)? But it did as soon as I read this thread.

I trusted you enough to ask you to bond me, and even when we decided that was a bad idea, I still considered you an unofficial Warder, and decided to save a "spot" for you in case things worked out differently. I loved you in a weird way that's hard to explain but that I think everyone on this site understands. You were always comforting and supportive and your support got me through one of the hardest times of my life. Our friendship has been a subtle one -we have never talked every day, or even every week- and yet I have always known you were there, that I could trust you.
YOU of all people know how much personal effort and care and time has been put into this site by every single person on it. YOU know that none of that effort can be accounted for with a bank account. The currency of this site is definitely one of caring, trust, and helping out, but it still needs a way to interface with the outside world in order to survive. YOU of all people know how much money it takes to run this community the way it has been run for almost twelve years! YOU know that many of our members truly cannot afford to give anything more than time. But they do. They donate to keep the site up. They donate to keep it ad free. They donate to help others out, both within and outside of the community. They donate so our events can be pulled off privately, as we want to, and without any major hitches.

What appalls me the most is that you would never have done this had you been put in charge of the finances of a 'real' corporation- one that ran by real world rules, one where the Board of Directors would not hesitate to press charges rather than simply remove you from the group. That means you took advantage of us BECAUSE you knew us so well- you knew that the worst that could happen was you would be banned. That's troublesome to me...perhaps more so than the actual theft.

How could you be so closed in on yourself that rather than seeing friends willing to help you through your hard times, you just saw dollar signs and an open door?

There are a lot of other feelings and connections whirling around in my head that I can't put a label on, but I'll just summarize with: What you did was terrible and you knew it was terrible...how could you do it anyway?

Ninya



You know what upsets me the most? Trust, once broken, is difficult (if not impossible) to repair...and this is the first time that this community has had to deal with someone in such a position being willfully dishonest. That kind of experience does kind of...change....the atmosphere, even when we don't want it to. Riley shattered not only our trust in him, but also -I imagine- many people's trust in our administrative team. The questions asked about how he got away with this and how long it's been going on are very good ones, because the fact that he got away with this for ANY amount of time (and for any amount of money, let alone however many hundreds were in the bank to pay for Fall Ball) is troublesome. There clearly needs to be a clearer and more precise way of accounting for expenses and income on this site so this never happens again.

That said... I am impressed with how quickly the team responded to this tragedy, and my respect for you has grown by leap and bounds (and considering I was already pretty damn amazed at your ability to pull it together even in tough times, that's saying something). I am extremely hopeful that we will be able to move forward with minimal impact, specifically because we are who we are and we love our community.

If I can help us recover from this in any way, please let me know.

I think everyone has fairly well covered my range of emotions. I'm tearful just typing this. Riley was the first person I recognized & subsequently hugged at my first Tower event. I went into a room full of strangers & he immediately made me feel at home. I just can't really understand ever being so financially strapped as to steal from friends & family.

I appreciate those who are already willing to donate & I mostly feel the same. However, I first want assurances as to future checks and balances regarding how the account is monitored. Thanks so much to Mother, Eleyan, Leora and all of the others for their swift actions in this terrible matter.

Wow Never expected this to happen, and most certainly not from Riley... He must have been more than desperate to act this way, even though it doesn't excuse everything.

Mother and everyone who is dealing with this situation, thank you :bow I have complete confidence that you will do your best and find a solution :grouphug

My question is... why didn't he just ask for help? I mean, that's what we do on this site. We help one another. We reach out when someone is in need and we do what we can to get them on their feet. Instead, Riley decided to steal our funds behind our backs? That's the part that makes me sad.

That being said, I know it couldn't have been an easy decision for him and I know the repercussions will be difficult for him (as they should be). I'm sorry that someone so close to the heart of our community has acted in this manner, totally unbefitting his rank and station. I've always believed that we should act as the person we want to be would act. This is especially true for senior members who are more in a position to be role models for the site. It's even more true in Riley's case when he was CFO. He made a very grievous mistake. Does that make him a bad person? No. He just made bad choices. So here's me saying "I forgive you, Riley." But trust must be earned from now on. That also saddens me.

My greatest thanks to the administrative team for pulling together so quickly and those who are doing astounding things to rectify this problem. And, believe it or not, thanks to Riley for at least manning up and admitting what he's done, and for cooperating with our administration.

This will not break us.
We're stronger than we know.
Tai'shar TarValon!

OMG!
I'm speechless and will probably come back to say something after I digest this..but since my personality is such that I "fix first" react later..

I think we should start a fund to replace the monies.. I would be willing to donate some money.

I'm also shocked. This is such a violation of trust for everyone that I'm not sure what even think.

First, thank you, admins, for what you've done.

I do hope that there will be more transparency going forward...I'd thought that Riley's big post on finances was a little vague a while back, but I'd assumed it was only because the admin team didn't want to give out too much financial information publicly. I don't really want to see numbers myself, but I hope a good method is put into place for checks and balances.

Lastly, is there somewhere to donate? I'd at least like to donate a little money toward helping out for fall ball since the money those people paid in was for something specific and I'd hate for them to miss out on it.

Well, isn't this just ****ing peachy.




My sympathies with everyone involved, keep up the work.