A former school board member in Missouri has pleaded guilty for her part in a wire fraud scheme that defrauded the Cooper County R-IV School District out of $385,000.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri says in a news release that Ashley Benny, 41, of Bunceton, Mo., waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
Cooper County R-IV is a school district in Bunceton, Mo., with about 100 students. While serving as the school board treasurer in 2019, Benny was asked to research alternative investment options for the school district’s unallocated savings.
Benny learned through a friend of a supposedly lucrative overseas “standby letter of credit” investment that carried no risk of loss. The school district agreed to Benny’s suggestion and voted to transfer $385,000 to a company called “AgFluent.”
Benny failed to disclose that she opened and controlled the AgFluent bank account and hoped to personally profit from the investment.
The investment was a scam, and the school district was defrauded out of $233,000 wired overseas by AgFluent. Contrary to AgFluent’s agreement with the school board, Benny then helped transfer the remaining school district investment funds to pay various other entities and expenses owed by a co-conspirator, including nearly $60,000 for the purchase of two semi-trucks and a $10,000 escrow payment on a failed land purchase deal.
The school district never received any return on its $385,000 investment.
By pleading guilty, Benny admitted that she is directly responsible for $146,518 in loss to Cooper County R-IV. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Benny must pay full restitution to the school district.
