The City of Dixon has obtained a multi-million dollar settlement from its former auditors after the largest municipal embezzlement in U.S. history.
According to a spokesperson from attorney partners Power, Rogers & Smith, the civil action suit spawned from the discovery of city comptroller, Rita Crundwell embezzling $53 million from the City of Dixon over a span of more than two decades.
It was announced on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 by Power, Rogers & Smith that a settlement awarded $40 million to the City of Dixon from its auditors.
"I said don't leave any money on the table," said Dixon Mayor, Jim Burke.
Mayor Burke says Sam Card Accounting will pay $1,000,000, Fifth Third Bank $2,850,000 and CliftonLarsonAllen will pay $36,150,000.
The settlement was reached Friday in Chicago after 17 hours of deliberations. As part of the lawsuit, the City will file no further lawsuits against the defendants or their representatives, according to a posting on the City of Dixon website.
Burke says he thinks the money will help heal the damage done by Crundwell.
"Now maybe we can get our workforce back to where it belongs and get operating again as a city," said David Dempsey, a resident of Dixon.
In an emailed statement to WQAD, CliftonLarsonAllen said:
"The allegations of fraud committed by City of Dixon Comptroller Rita Crundwell, some of which she pled guilty to, are extremely serious and present an opportunity for all affected parties to evaluate how they occurred," said Gordon Viere, CliftonLarsonAllen CEO. "We believe there was a shared responsibility that resulted in Ms. Crundwell's fraud continuing undetected, and the right thing to do is reduce the harm experienced by the taxpayers of Dixon and put this matter behind us."
Viere said it was important to people at CliftonLarsonAllen to reach a fair settlement for taxpayers.
A conference regarding the settlement is scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday at Power, Rogers & Smith in Chicago.