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William Smith, the former CFO of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison Thursday after pleading guilty in November to embezzling $40 million from the nonprofit over more than a decade.
Smith also received a three-year term of supervised release. He was ordered to pay $44.3 million in restitution and will forfeit all assets acquired with the stolen funds, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
“William Smith stole an astonishing amount of money from an important community institution and spent that money to finance an extravagant lifestyle,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Julie Beck. “Every dollar that Smith spent on luxury goods for himself is a dollar the Conservancy could not spend beautifying and improving our city’s riverfront.”
Smith served as CFO of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit responsible for developing public access and green space along the Detroit River, funded by a mix of private donations and public grants, from 2011 to May 2024. His role gave him complete oversight of financial controls and created an environment that allowed him to manipulate funds.
The scheme was carried out across three main fronts, according to court documents:
1. Unauthorized transfers to a shell company
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Smith created and controlled an entity called The Joseph Group Inc., which had no business relationship with the Conservancy.
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From February 2013 to May 2024, he transferred approximately $24.4 million from Conservancy accounts to The Joseph Group.
The entity was not an approved vendor and provided no goods or services to the organization.
2. Personal credit card payments using conservancy funds
Smith had an American Express account under another entity he owned, William Smith & Associates LLC, with four different cards linked to the one account.
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Between November 2012 and May 2024, he used about $14.9 million in Conservancy funds to pay these cards off.
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Purchases included personal items such as furniture, designer clothing, handbags, airline tickets and lawn care. None of these were authorized by the Conservancy.
3. Misuse of cashier’s checks
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Smith used Conservancy funds to buy cashier’s checks from various banks.
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These purchases were not authorized by the Conservancy or its board.
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He personally used the checks for his businesses and lifestyle.
To sustain and conceal the embezzlement, Smith produced multiple falsified financial records. These included bank statements provided to the Conservancy’s bookkeeper, in which he removed evidence of unauthorized transfers. He also fraudulently obtained a $5 million line of credit through Citizens Bank by forging documents claiming board approval. Toward the end, he used this credit to refill Conservancy accounts to hide some of the missing money.
