The words “fraud” and “forgery” echoed off the walls of the USAC meeting room Tuesday in reaction to an 11th-hour discovery made Monday night that prevented the illegitimate loss of $40,000 from the USAC student budget.
A person posing as the liaison for high-profile speakers, including ex-president Jimmy Carter, forged eight e-mails and other documents requesting a total of $39,564.13, according to USAC Finance Committee Chair Parsa Sobhani.
“There’s a lot of evidence toward the fake e-mail,” Sobhani said. “There’s so much thought that went into this.”
It was the Jimmy Carter e-mail that tipped us off, he said.
Among the inconsistencies cited were a time discrepancy, a nonexistent Web site and a Times New Roman font that was unusual for the type of e-mail.
The request had met the approval of USAC General Representative Sanobar Sajan, who had signed it off with her approval, and it was in the process of final review.
“I looked it over,” Sajan said. “It looked fine to me. I signed the paper. I wasn’t involved in creating the fake documentation. As soon as I found out about this, I took the necessary steps that anyone would do. I asked them to rescind the application. I would love more time to go through this and really figure out what happened here.”
No money was allocated, and the applications are under investigation.
“The concern isn’t that money has been stolen,” USAC President Gabe Rose said. “What we’re talking about here is a matter of process. To make up the things that you need money for is fairly serious.”