by
Matt Cullen
For good reason, Detroit Conservancy board chairman Matt Cullen is hurt and angry. He thinks the ex-CFO, William Smith, who stole $44.3 million from the organization, is a liar and a snake.
"He has told the court that he had cooperated — that he had worked to help us find the money — and he has not. That's a lie," Cullen tells Detroit Free Press columnist Neal Rubin. Smith was sentenced on Thursday to 19 years in prison.
Rubin reports:
Then Cullen spoke forcefully at the sentencing, calling Smith a "snake" and "one of the worst guys in the history of the city of Detroit." And he spoke further by phone — about losing millions, regaining trust, and gazing at the river.
“It’s devastating,” he said, to be publicly betrayed and have supporters’ money wasted on the whims of a fickle thief who lavished money on both his wife and his girlfriend.
“But everything out there is not a mirage," Cullen said. "We took the worst riverfront in the country and made it the best.”
After the scandal surfaced, CEO Mark Wallace resigned.
But some have wondered why Cullen remains after the scandal. They don't think he had anything to do with the missing money, but they also think he should bear some responsibility for being the board chairman.
Some also think the large number of board members at the time, including Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, should publicly answer questions about the organization that lost more than $40 million to thievery.
