The Treasurer of Python NZ Pleads Guilty To Stealing From the Society (interest.co.nz) 20
Long-time Slashdot reader Bismillah writes: Python New Zealand has gone through some rough times lately, with its then-treasurer stealing money from the society.. Things were looking really serious for a while, with Python NZ looking at being liquidated due to the theft of funds.
However, there is a silver lining to the story, as the free and open source movement rallied behind Python NZ and got them out of a serious pickle.
"Our friends at Linux Australia and at the Python Software Foundation went well above and beyond to support us, and save us," says Tom Eastman president of Python New Zealand, in an article from interest.co.nz.
He also says he hopes the treasure is ordered by the court to pay restitution. (In the article the treasurer confirms that he's pleaded guilty to the theft, which took place between February 2019 and October 2023 — leaving Python NZ owing conference supplies around $55,000.) "We had $26 in the bank accounts," Eastman tells the site.
The group now has new transparency and accountability measures...
However, there is a silver lining to the story, as the free and open source movement rallied behind Python NZ and got them out of a serious pickle.
"Our friends at Linux Australia and at the Python Software Foundation went well above and beyond to support us, and save us," says Tom Eastman president of Python New Zealand, in an article from interest.co.nz.
He also says he hopes the treasure is ordered by the court to pay restitution. (In the article the treasurer confirms that he's pleaded guilty to the theft, which took place between February 2019 and October 2023 — leaving Python NZ owing conference supplies around $55,000.) "We had $26 in the bank accounts," Eastman tells the site.
The group now has new transparency and accountability measures...
Why hide the name? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
If you cared to read the article, you would learn his name.
Re:Why hide the name? (Score:5, Insightful)
If I'm hiring someone to manage my finances, then I sure as hell want to know if they have been convicted of a financial crime.
Too much trust (Score:3)
The trusted treasurer of Python New Zealand, a volunteer-run society set up to promote one of the world's most popular programming languages, has admitted to stealing $70,000 over several years to fund personal spending.
Carlos Bavastrello Cordero who was the Python NZ treasurer, confirmed to interest.co.nz that he had pleaded guilty at the Invercargill District Court to the theft that took place between February 2019 and October 2023 when he was caught out.
So he was allowed to do essentially whatever he pleased with the society's bank account for almost 5 years. Nobody even checked the bank statements and he wasn't asked to present a yearly review of the group's activities and spendings.
So yeah, dude stole money. But a more perplexing problem is the complete lack of oversight from the other people in charge. If I was asked to bail them out, I would demand explanations about that before opening my wallet personally.
Re: (Score:2)
According to https://python.nz/about/rules/ [python.nz] "The state of the Charity with respect to its finances" should be presented at the annual meeting and "The treasurer and secretary shall have joint required signing rights, and operate the bank accounts, handle investments, and make payments as needed."
"For the purpose of online credit/debit card payments – which require a bank account with a single signatory – a separate bank account can be operated by the treasurer alone. This account shall only be u
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This is pretty common with small nonprofits and community groups. People just end up trusting the guy to do the thing and deal with the complicated nonsense of finances. Everyone else just wants to do the fun stuff.
Its not a *good* situation, but frankly its not that different from the situation in a lot of small non-public companies where theres a bookkeeper or accountant whos doing a bit of sneakymath on the side to prop up the kids college fund, until , that is, he gets caught and the kids college fund e
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Which is exactly the reason to have a peek in the bookkeeping now and then. Just a peek. Make it a fun day. Bring pizza for everyone joining. ;-)
You either overestimate the power of pizza or you're someone who likes finance. For people who don't like finance, a "fun day auditing the bookkeeping" is like "a fun day doing your taxes" or "a fun day getting a root canal".
No amount of pizza will make auditing the bank accounts "fun" for a bunch of volunteers who have no interest in staring at lots of numbers on reports while the treasurer makes up explanations for all the stuff the volunteers don't understand and don't want to understand.
I'm fairly sure
Re: Too much trust (Score:2)
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I'm a member of a non-profit club with a fairly high (financial) turnover. We have a treasurer who we trust to do the right thing, but we have an AGM once a year and the accounts have to be audited in preparation for that AGM.
Actually, looking at the accounts presented in 2019 (I can't remember where I put the newer ones) our turnover for the financial year preceding was in the region of 110k Euros. I think the audits are a legal requirement here, and this case shows why.
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You sound like an Australian
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Even without the theft, there would be problems (Score:3)
"There were 1674 transactions entirely unrelated to Python NZ business. Consisting of $66,051.15 in debits and $17,202.18 in credits. Netting $48,849.23 in unauthorised and non-society related transactions," Eastman said.
and
On the money side, Python NZ owed around $55,000 to conference suppliers as well as the $21,800 loan which IRD had not received a single repayment for.
Python NZ was on the hook for much more than the $49k lost to theft.
How much does the job pay? (Score:2)
"Nothing"
"D'oh"
"Unless you're crooked."
"Woo-hoo!"
That's a pretty minimal amount, considering. (Score:2)
I have to imagine the reason the guy couldn't divert a lot more is that there wasn't enough cash flow to skim from without being detected. Otherwise, diverting roughly $14k a year is pretty small potatoes for this kind of crime, to the point where it hardly justifies the risk.
Well that was confusing (Score:1)