ATTN: Everyone, concerning Riley and his position as CFO

[Adina al'Mari]

Better choice Jeffan, thank you.

This is a sad day, and sad week for us Blues. I'm thankful to the admins and board and hall for all the tough decisions they've had to make recently.

 

[Jeffan Caliarthan]

Yeppers.

 

[Tree]

I just want to take a moment to remind everyone that no decision has been made to prosecute or press charges- just as no decision has been made not to. Right now, as Leora mentioned not too long ago, we are still within the first 24 hours and everyone is a mixed bag of a lot of emotions. The Board is having an emergency meeting, they are all reading along with the thread I am sure, hearing your concerns, anger, compassion even! They will be working out the details of what to do next, what legal actions will be taken, so on and so fourth. Nobody made a decision yet I guess is my point. Legal counsel is being consulted. Due diligence will be paid I am sure.

I know it only does to much to calm anyone- but I just thought you should know that you are being heard. That’s why this isn’t locked.

And no accusation here- but peace and harmony even while disagreeing. Its a nice thing. Glad to see everyone is doing a great job with this even at this moment, where emotions are high, tempers will be flaring, and everyone is in shock.

 

[Laralelle Susandrea]

Oh wow. I'm nearly in tears. Awesome job to those in charge for taking care of this so quickly. I don't know what else to say right now....

 

[Naomi al'Moranwin]

I don't even know where to start processing this news.

I look forward to more updates from our Admins as they become available, and I appreciate the effort to keep us up to date.

 

[Jayson Maison]

OMG!!!!

I feel kinda sorry for him, Once you start to skim it becomes an addiction, especially if he had problems at home.

But that is no excuse at all for doing what he did !

I once knew a nice old lady well in her 70s, who was in charge of fund raising at her church. Her husband died and she had a few debts as a result.
So she took a bit here and there and got found out . The judge gave her ,a 70 year old woman 18 months in prison.

Yes its about the money but its also being in a position of trust and abusing the privilege

 

[Kailen Montresor]

Riley and I just pm'd a couple of days ago. I dont know what to make of this, other than that I will miss him in CE. That said...

I agree with Jeffan, and I trust the board to handle this.

Also, Caerwyn's generosity cannot be understated! I imagine he is a man of great financial means, one with many obligations, but no obligation to do so much for The Tower. What an incredible gesture!

 

[Qamra Daielin]

I just want to thank the administration with being so transparent about all of this and I know that they also are dealing with the broken trust and the emotional side of things as well as having to deal with the business side and it's ramifications. I'm sure this has not been easy, and I just want to say thank you.

I won't comment on anything since i'm still processing, but I am so thankful this community is able to handle this with maturity as well.

 

[Mirandha Laflor]

Thank you to the Administration for being transparent about this issue. I hope the transparency stays in place going forward.

This is why I asked about whether or not the membership could see financial statements and a balance sheet of what money goes where. I work for a 501(c)3 (which I realize is different but it's still a non profit) and I regularly get to see how much money we have for the fiscal year and where it's being allotted. I'm not even a donor- just a staff member.

I think it's important for more transparency regarding how our money is handled. And, like others have said, checks and balances are a must.

I didn't know Riley well at all, but I can tell he was close to a lot of people. I'm sad for them that their friend is no longer a member of the site. I hope we can all move on

 

[Tazren Talamar]

The point of the lawsuit wouldn't be to get the money back. It's about justice. You break the law, you get caught, you pay the penalty. By not prosecuting, you imply that the concern for the wrong doer is greater than the concern for the people who were wronged.

An important aspect in this, at least to me, is that this, happening now, actually hurts people, like those who're going to Fall Ball. That's a great deal of people who may have their vacations ruined, who've invested a lot of money to do this, and it's all gone. If this had happened at another time, and the money had been replaced before it was noticed, it would've been less serious to me. Still a betrayal, ban-worthy, and maybe more since it's still criminal ... but the fact that people actually got hurt now, and it makes an even greater mess for the community, makes it very difficult to just brush it off, to me. Like you said, the concern for the wrongdoer shouldn't be more important than the concern for those who were wronged. And I can imagine that there are very similar circumstances in many cases like these.

 

[Stephen Lightheart]

I don't know Riley. Never talked to him. Never even saw him post. However, from all the comments here, it seems that he was regarded as a trustworthy guy, who is smart enough to be trusted with the financial end of Tar Valon... So, am I the only one wondering what his story is, and how the hell he came to doing this?

I mean, I could see someone like the guy you all are describing here skim some money here and there and change the numbers in his favor a bit. A smart guy could steal thousands over the years that way, without ever getting caught. It takes either a desperate or an incredibly stupid man to take all the money, knowing Fall Ball is only a week away, and still sticking around to answer for his crimes and promise to pay back.

What's his story? Is there anything known about his reasons?

 

[Dralyn Montsier]

We'll answer what questions we can as we can. First we're going to have the Board meeting tonight, then I'm sure more information will be released.

 

[Catt Heckathorne]

Something I think all of us would like to see: Please, keep us updated on this situation.

 

[Nymala Ingasy]

What's his story? Is there anything known about his reasons?

This.

 

[Siusane al'Cuyler]

wow. I had to read that first post more than once.

I'm so sad this happened. sad that Riley chose to do such a thing, and at such a time. I never talked to him much, but I'm sad for all the painful emotions that those closer to him must be feeling. and sad that such a thing could have happened, but hopefully this will improve the way things are run in the future.

I appreciate the way this is being handled, by the community, but especially to the admins dealing with this, a big thank you!

regarding prosecution, money, whatever...just recently a small company doing some work on our house caught their office manager stealing money, and in their case it came down to a choice of lawsuit versus getting their money back, so they were effectively unable to prosecute, since they needed to get paid back to stay in business. as the Board gets more information I expect they will do what is best for the site as a whole, whatever the options end up being in this case.

I think a site ban is perfectly reasonable. but I sure would to hear an apology from Riley and as much explanation as possible. even though that still won't make things right. wow.

 

[Jordan Rayne]

I'm still processing. I can't imagine how bad things may have gotten for him to even consider doing this, and yes, I would like to know.

I am amazed and filled with hope and love at the way this is being handled, not just by the Admins and Board, but by regular members. Yes, we are angry, hurt, and betrayed, but we are still sticking together, and no one is being rude, mean or generally hateful to anyone else, it's inspiring to me.

I love and treasure this community so much! :grouphug

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

Since people's comments are being taken into consideration, I thought I'd post once more time.

Riley and I were close, but I support the decision to ban him, and I hope it stays in effect. If someone can get banned for accessing another person's account out of curiosity, then someone who steals from us should definitely be banned. There is no logical reason to allow him to retain his membership in any capacity.

 

[Vallah al'Dera]

^what Ninya said, and I would like for part of his punishment on the matter to be a open letter to the membership expressing his guilt and remorse for his actions.

 

[Jordan Rayne]

^ This. And an explanation as to why.

 

[Elbereth Gailbridhil]

In terms of improving financial procedure so this never happens again, I'd be curious to hear from the admin team what the current procedure is exactly.

I used to be president of a student club which would have at any time between 15k and 35k in the bank. As an individual, having ~10k stolen from me would be *disastrous* for me, but the club I ran would have been able to keep moving on -- one thing I'd like to point out for the thread is that organizational finances work on different scale than individual finances.

In terms of what my club did -- all cheques had to be signed by *two* club execs. At various times our treasurers didn't even have signing authority, to ensure that other people would be seeing the cheques. And no exec was ever allowed to sign a cheque to themself.

Each month we'd get an official, paper bank statement -- sent to the President, who in turn would pass it onto the Treasurer, ensuring that at least two people had seen it. We also would have another exec have to regularly look at the regular expense reports of the Treasurer.

During times when money would be frequently coming in or out (say, around Fall Ball?) we'd assign a rotation of exec to check the finances at the end of *every day*.

I'd suggest that our wonderful admin staff consult with any similar legal/financial entities they know to find out what procedures have worked for them. Since the Tower is online, I realize some things will be complicated, but I'm sure there are a lot of good ideas out there.