FSU has had some problems......there has probably been some finger pointing back and forth regarding who should have caught the embezzlement. It can't have been a pleasant work environment the last couple of months.
The longtime comptroller for the Seminole Boosters admitted to Leon County Sheriff's Office investigators Wednesday that he to stole money from the nonprofit and used it to pay for his own investments and other personal expenses, according to court documents.
Sanford Lovingood, 64, was promptly fired by the Boosters, the main fundraising arm for Florida State University athletics, who originally discovered the "misappropriations" during a Wednesday review of the nonprofit's banking records.
Lovingood turned himself in to the Leon County Sheriff's Office on a felony charge of grand theft of more than 100,000 Wednesday.
Seminole Boosters Chief Executive Officer and President Andy Miller said in a news release Wednesday evening that Lovingood took between $500,000 and $700,000. The Boosters say they are assisting LCSO with the investigation. A forensic audit is underway to determine exactly how much was stolen, Miller said.
"We will aggressively pursue recovery of the funds and are confident they will be restored," said Mike Harrell, chairman of the Seminole Boosters Board of Directors. "We take our fiscal responsibilities very seriously."
Booster members raised their concerns to Lovingood over lunch Wednesday, when he told them he stole a large amount of money through the Boosters' Morgan Stanley stock account, in which stock donations made to the Boosters are sold and transferred into cash.
Lovingood drew a diagram for investigators to detail how in 2011 he started writing a series of checks from the Morgan Stanley account to Schooner Development Corporation, where he is listed as an officer, according to the Florida Department of State Division of Corporations. He then used these funds to pay for his own T.D. Ameritrade investments and personal expenses, court documents said.
Lovingood said all checks from the Mogran Stanley account were in his handwriting and that there would be no reason for the Boosters to cut a check to Schooner. He told investigators planned to repay the money by willing property that he owned back to the Boosters.
Lovingood was well-known in the FSU community and amongst boosters, who expressed sheer disbelief at the news. The Boosters briefed FSU Interim President Garnett S. Stokes, the Board of Trustees, the administration, Athletics Department and the Seminole Booster Board of Directors on Wednesday.
Tom Jennings, FSU's vice president for university advancement, oversees Seminole Boosters along with the Alumni Association and FSU Foundation. Jennings said he learned about the missing funds shortly before the boosters' emergency board meeting Wednesday afternoon.
"We take donor trust very seriously. We are very concerned and are going to take every step to make sure this never happens again," Jennings said.
He noted that the investigation is ongoing.
"We're still trying to learn more about what happened. Obviously, we are very disappointed," Jennings added.
