- AZA zoo looses $631,000 due to executives "misspending"; All resigned.
Published by -NAWA News Feed- in - AZA Incidents and News - · Thursday 26 Aug 2021
Columbus Dispatch - The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium has released 92 pages of reports summarizing an investigation into misspending and questionable business practices by former executives.
Read the story: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium lost at least $631,000 because of misspending by former officials
The documents, compiled for the zoo by Plante Moran accounting firm, conclude the zoo lost at least $631,000 because of the behavior of four former executives: President and CEO Tom Stalf; chief financial officer Greg Bell; vice president of marketing and sales Pete Fingerhut; and director of purchasing Tracy Murnane.
Stalf and Bell were responsible for the overwhelming majority of the losses — about $423,000 for Stalf and nearly $139,000 for Bell, plus interest, according to a forensic audit.
The pair resigned in late March, after a Dispatch investigation first uncovered their pattern of using the zoo's assets personally.
