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CEO stole $2.5M from D.C. nonprofits, then posted photos of Hawaii vacation
LEGAL ISSUES
CEO stole $2.5M from D.C. nonprofits, then posted photos of Hawaii vacation
Called a privileged “sociopath” by a judge, Graham Hauck kept stealing from D.C.-area nonprofits and trade associations whose money he managed after being warned he was being investigated.
By Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu
June 12, 2024 at 5:28 p.m. EDT
A portion of a court filing in the case of Graham Hauck. At sentencing, his lawyer said Hauck has lost 85 pounds and stopped drinking in prison. (U.S. Attorney for D.C.)
After a client confronted Graham Hauck about missing funds in 2019, the management executive who lived in Washington’s comfortable suburbs paid the money back — then kept stealing. In 2021, after FBI agents warned Hauck that he was under investigation for embezzling funds, he kept stealing. Two years later, after federal prosecutors laid out all of the evidence against him, Hauck kept stealing. And in March, after being offered a deal to plead to wire fraud, Hauck kept stealing. ... Before pleading guilty, he took his family on a vacation to Hawaii. Then he stole some more.
On Wednesday, Hauck, 51, was sentenced to 5½ years in prison and ordered to repay his victims, which include a cancer-research nonprofit, a museum association and an international trade lobbying group. ... “It takes a certain type of sociopath to be able to lie so continuously to so many people over a long time,” a federal judge in D.C. told him before handing down the punishment.
Hauck ultimately admitted to embezzling $2.5 million from the trade associations and nonprofits that used the Hauck & Associates management firm his father founded in Bethesda. He had to plead guilty twice because more victims came forward after his first plea, prosecutors said. ... He double-billed clients, used his access to their bank accounts to siphon off funds and set up accounts that redirected conference registration fees to him, he admitted in court. He falsified balance sheets and routed funds overseas to hide the embezzlement.
During the years he was under investigation, the government says, Hauck paid $75,000 in country club dues to the private Chevy Chase Club. He was on vacation in Switzerland when first caught misappropriating client funds, according to his plea. ... “What I find particularly egregious about this case,” U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said, is that at no point did Hauck say: “Family meeting. We’re in a real pickle here.” The judge said Hauck could have taken his children out of expensive private schools or sent them to free public activities rather than the Chevy Chase country club.
{snip}
By Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner covers federal courts in Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Va. Twitter https://twitter.com/rachelweinerwp
By Spencer Hsu
Spencer S. Hsu is an investigative reporter, two-time Pulitzer finalist and national Emmy Award nominee. Hsu has covered homeland security, immigration, Virginia politics and Congress. Twitter https://twitter.com/hsu_spencer
CEO stole $2.5M from D.C. nonprofits, then posted photos of Hawaii vacation
Called a privileged “sociopath” by a judge, Graham Hauck kept stealing from D.C.-area nonprofits and trade associations whose money he managed after being warned he was being investigated.
By Rachel Weiner and Spencer S. Hsu
June 12, 2024 at 5:28 p.m. EDT
A portion of a court filing in the case of Graham Hauck. At sentencing, his lawyer said Hauck has lost 85 pounds and stopped drinking in prison. (U.S. Attorney for D.C.)
After a client confronted Graham Hauck about missing funds in 2019, the management executive who lived in Washington’s comfortable suburbs paid the money back — then kept stealing. In 2021, after FBI agents warned Hauck that he was under investigation for embezzling funds, he kept stealing. Two years later, after federal prosecutors laid out all of the evidence against him, Hauck kept stealing. And in March, after being offered a deal to plead to wire fraud, Hauck kept stealing. ... Before pleading guilty, he took his family on a vacation to Hawaii. Then he stole some more.
On Wednesday, Hauck, 51, was sentenced to 5½ years in prison and ordered to repay his victims, which include a cancer-research nonprofit, a museum association and an international trade lobbying group. ... “It takes a certain type of sociopath to be able to lie so continuously to so many people over a long time,” a federal judge in D.C. told him before handing down the punishment.
Hauck ultimately admitted to embezzling $2.5 million from the trade associations and nonprofits that used the Hauck & Associates management firm his father founded in Bethesda. He had to plead guilty twice because more victims came forward after his first plea, prosecutors said. ... He double-billed clients, used his access to their bank accounts to siphon off funds and set up accounts that redirected conference registration fees to him, he admitted in court. He falsified balance sheets and routed funds overseas to hide the embezzlement.
During the years he was under investigation, the government says, Hauck paid $75,000 in country club dues to the private Chevy Chase Club. He was on vacation in Switzerland when first caught misappropriating client funds, according to his plea. ... “What I find particularly egregious about this case,” U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras said, is that at no point did Hauck say: “Family meeting. We’re in a real pickle here.” The judge said Hauck could have taken his children out of expensive private schools or sent them to free public activities rather than the Chevy Chase country club.
{snip}
By Rachel Weiner
Rachel Weiner covers federal courts in Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Va. Twitter https://twitter.com/rachelweinerwp
By Spencer Hsu
Spencer S. Hsu is an investigative reporter, two-time Pulitzer finalist and national Emmy Award nominee. Hsu has covered homeland security, immigration, Virginia politics and Congress. Twitter https://twitter.com/hsu_spencer