Man Accused of Charity Fraud May Surrender
An American Cancer Society executive sought by the FBI for allegedly stealing $6.9 million raised by volunteers will turn himself in, his attorney said Wednesday.
Attorney Kevin Durkin would not say where Dan Wiant was or when he would return.
Wiant, 35, who oversaw computer and financial operations for the charity’s Ohio chapter, is charged with bank fraud. He is accused of having a bank wire $6.9 million of the charity’s money to an account in Austria. According to a complaint the FBI filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, he allegedly took the money, then told his wife on Friday that he was never coming home.
Wiant’s wife found a letter from her husband Saturday, telling her he had paid their debts with the money, the complaint said. It gave her instructions on how to find him if she ever wanted to.
Cancer Society spokesman Harvey Schwartz said the agency was evaluating what can be done to improve safeguards against theft. It is the second alleged embezzlement at the Ohio chapter, he said.
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