Topic: Administrative
August 18, 2015
Ball State University has received a check from the U.S. District Court for $694,763.65. The money is restitution from Seth Beoku Betts, a Florida investment adviser who last year was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for defrauding Ball State University of more than $8 million.
Betts was arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud. Federal authorities obtained restitution through the sale of Betts’ assets.
“We are grateful to federal authorities, who have relentlessly pursued this case and the recovery of assets,” said Bernard Hannon, vice president for Business Affairs and treasurer at Ball State. “We will continue to cooperate with authorities in their investigation.”
Another individual, George Montolio of The Bronx, N.Y., was sentenced last year to 36 months in prison for his plea of guilty to wire fraud in connection with an additional $5 million university investment.
Hannon said that the university wrote off $2.9 million of the total $13.1 million lost in fiscal year 2011 and wrote off the remainder in fiscal year 2014. The recovered funds will offset some of the written-down losses. The university continues to cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies to recover any additional funds, he added.