PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Education has been referring ESA fraud cases to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office as well as the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne accused Attorney General Kris Mayes of not prosecuting alleged fraud within the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) school voucher program, which allows families to use public education tax dollars for private school or homeschooling expenses.
“We started with the attorney general, and she was saying no to things that we thought were outrageously criminal and should’ve been prosecuted. So, we started sending them to the county attorney. Now we’re sending them to both,” Horne told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Friday.
was charged with forgery for allegedly sending a false medical verification letter to the Arizona Department of Education in an…
This category refers to crimes committed by employees or insiders against their own organizations. It is often the most damaging because the perpetrator has authorized access to systems.
- Asset Misappropriation: The most common form, involving the theft of company resources. This ranges from simple “skimming” (taking cash before it’s recorded) to complex schemes involving the theft of inventory or intellectual property.
- Payroll Fraud: Employees may create “ghost employees” on the system, falsify their own timesheets to claim unworked overtime, or divert salary payments to their own accounts.
- Financial Statement Fraud: Management deliberately misrepresents the company’s financial health by inflating revenue or hiding liabilities to attract investors or meet performance bonuses.