A new report provides more details about how a former Santa Cruz County treasurer allegedly lied to staff and falsified reports.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Ariz. — Employees of the former Santa Cruz County treasurer's office say their boss gave them large gifts of money before he resigned and was charged with embezzling millions of dollars, a new report has revealed.
Elizabeth Gutfer, who resigned from her elected position earlier this year, is being sued by a small Arizona county for allegedly taking money from the county's savings account and transferring it to corporations and bank accounts she controlled.
A report released Monday by the Arizona Auditor General's Office provides more details about how the former Treasury secretary allegedly lied to staff and falsified reports to hide the embezzlement.
The Treasury officer is accused of making more than 180 fraudulent wire transfers totaling $39 million over a 10-year period, and of making the transfers without the knowledge of six employees working in his office.
According to the audit report, accounting staff admitted to receiving financial assistance and gifts from their superiors.
One employee said the accountant sometimes paid their bills and gave their children $100 gifts for their birthdays. Another employee told investigators that the accountant gave them a car and paid their personal cell phone bill.
The former treasurer told employees he wanted to move the funds into a Wells Fargo account that offered better interest rates than the local government investment pool, and he convinced a top aide to give him the wire transfer password, allowing him to circumvent internal controls, according to the report.
The chief deputy claims he once questioned the treasurer about a $225,000 wire transfer in 2021. The treasurer claimed the transfer was a mistake and assured him the money would be returned. The auditor allegedly discovered the money was never returned to the county treasurer's office.
“While the county's Board of Supervisors was responsible, no one else oversaw the treasurer or monitored his actions,” the audit report said.
The auditors stressed that “false and irregular” monthly financial reports were submitted to the county Board of Supervisors and the county Finance Department but had no “obvious impact.”
Read more from the audit report here.
