Forensic accounting and fraud examination CHAPTER 10 Case 51=

Rob Ellis is a forensic accountant who has been engaged to investigate a case of elec-tronic fraud at Weezer, a company that operates a chain of wholesale restaurant supply stores in the Houston area.

Sonya Goyos, Weezers controller, first contacted Rob. She tells him that shes discov-ered that one of several employees working in the main office has been stealing company blank checks. The main checkbook is normally kept locked in the office desk of the CFOs secretary. Only the CFO, the secretary, two accountants, and the company janitor normally have access to the CFOs office suite. Sonya discovered the problem in a routine reconciliation of the bank statement against the cash disbursements ledger. The reconciliation revealed two paid checks in the amounts of $1,324 and $1,726, both made payable to and cashed by Maximo Gomez. Sonyas follow-up investigation revealed that both checks had been cashed in the drive-thru window of Weezers bank, and on both occasions the teller had written Maximos drivers license number and address on the back of the checks. Sonya reported the two checks to the check fraud division of the local district attor-neys office. Two weeks later, she received a call from one of the investigators. He had visited Maximos residence and found that he had been very ill and immobile for sev-eral months. It seemed apparent that Maximo was the victim of identity theft and had nothing to do with cashing the stolen checks. We see this all the time, said the investigator. We have the videos of the person cashing the checks. He was obviously wearing a wig and sunglasses. He also knew exactly how to position his head to minimize his exposure to the banks surveillance camera. What about a license plate number? Sonya asked. Did that show up on the video? Yes, but it was unreadable. This guy was a real professional. It appears that he put some kind of reflective coating on the license plate to confuse the camera. Sonya was really frustrated. Her preliminary conversations with the bank led her to believe that Weezer would have to eat the losses because a company employee was obviously involved in the scheme. Even worse, she had a strong feeling that the prob-lem would happen again. There was really no way to keep the bank from cashing the checks, and next time the losses could be even worse.

Sonya discussed the problem with Harry Winkler, the CEO. He strongly insisted that Sonya focus on catching the crook because doing that was more important than taking a chance that the problem might happen again. She replied that she wanted to place a hidden surveillance camera in the CFOs office, but Harry refused because he was afraid of the possible consequences of spying on his CFO whose family connections were important to Weezers survival. No, I want you to gather evidence from what you have already, Harry said. Hire a forensic accountant and let the accountant provide some evidence as to who did it. If that evidence is good, then Ill consider installing a spy camera. Rob was hired to conduct a preliminary investigation that involved a handwriting anal-ysis of the checks. He was not a handwriting expert, but he quickly found that there was no obvious correspondence between any of the handwriting on the bad checks to the handwriting of any of the employee suspects. He concluded that he needed to inter-view each of the suspects and perhaps obtain a confession. Rob decided to conduct the first interview with Maria Ladronia, the CFOs secretary. Both he and Sonya considered Maria to be the prime suspect. Rob conducted the inter-view in an empty conference room. She sat directly across from him on the other side of the table.

Hello, Im Rob Ellis, he said to her. Im a certified fraud examiner from the Wilson and Larson Accounting Firm. I need to ask you only a few questions. Maria stiffened. Please dont worry; youre not being accused of doing anything wrong. Im just here for a routine investigation. His reassurance did not seem to help, and Maria only looked more nervous. Rob won-dered if Maria was acting guilty. Do you know what I am investigating? Rob asked. Maria shook her head back and forth, still sitting straight up in her chair like a lamppost. Someone stole checks from your bosss desk, Rob told her. Are you a policeman? she asks. Rob tried to speak in a calm and reassuring voice, No, just an accountant. Maria began to cry softly, but she still remained upright and stiff. Why are you crying? Rob asked. I dont want to lose my job. I have two kids in private school, and my husband and I can barely make ends meet. Rob decides that Maria was acting very guilty and decided to get right to the heart of the matter. Ok, he said. We do have information that points straight to you. You might as well confess. Help me out, and Ill see if I can convince your boss not to press charges. Maria became very quiet, and for a time Rob heard only the hum of the overhead flo-rescent lights. Finally, Maria spoke. Youre accusing me. I want a lawyer, and Im not going to talk to you. And Ill sue both you and my company if anything happens to me. She got up and walked out of the room.

a. How well did Rob handle the interview?

b. How well did Rob handle the overall investigation?

c. What might Rob have done differently?

d. What is Robs assessment of Marias responses

REQUEST= Answer should be plagiarism free.