Grand Forks Public Schools leadership says little about alleged $2.2 million wire fraud – Grand Forks Herald

GRAND FORKS — District leaders are saying little about the $2.2 million allegedly defrauded from Grand Forks Public Schools last month.

The district superintendent, business manager and school board president declined all requests from the Herald to provide further information about the suspected wire fraud reported to police on Sept. 13, citing the ongoing criminal investigation into the matter.

These included questions about the financial impact of the alleged fraud, when the school board became aware of the fraud and whether anyone was disciplined or fired as a result of the incident.

“I know people are interested and want to know why this is all happening, but we want to maintain the integrity of the investigation,” said Superintendent Terry Brenner.

Brenner said all communications related to the fraud investigation would come from law enforcement. Grand Forks police are handling the case with assistance from the U.S. Secret Service.

Brenner said there is a possibility of a future joint media release from the district and authorities, but otherwise it would be premature for him to speculate about the case.

The school district released an employee-wide notice about the fraud Wednesday afternoon, shortly after the Herald first contacted to confirm whether the fraud had occurred.

Brenner said the notice was sent to let employees know that their banking information had not been compromised. However, he said he would not address why the district waited nearly three weeks to do so.

Los Angeles-based certified fraud examiner Julie Platt says it’s not surprising that county officials are refusing to comment.

“There is very little motivation to publicly announce that you have been scammed,” she said. “I haven’t seen many governments do that, and many private companies and public companies don’t want to do it. It makes them look bad.”

Dave Berger, school board president, also said the school board would not comment on the alleged fraud “until the investigation is complete and all facts have come to light.”

He did not respond to a question about when he or other school board members learned of the fraud.

Brenner and Executive Director Brandon Baumbach also declined to discuss the impact of the fraud on the district’s finances.

Platt cited one reason the district is not commenting on the financial cost of the alleged fraud is that administrators may be waiting to see whether law enforcement can recover the lost money or whether the district has fraud insurance that could offset the loss.

Baumbach did not respond to a text message asking whether anyone was punished or fired because of the fraud.

“The school district was the victim of a crime committed by an outside actor that is under investigation,” he wrote in response.

Joshua Irvine covers K-12 and higher education and the Grand Forks County Commission for the Grand Forks Herald. He can be reached at [email protected].