Foundation Director Directs Scholarship Money for Students to his Own Bank Account

Marion Ledford, a director for the Robert W. Hamilton Foundation, a New Mexico non-profit that provides scholarships to high school graduates, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzling $1,785,300 from the organization.

Ledford controlled the foundation’s finances without oversight, and for five years wrote himself personal checks from the organization. He was a partner in a CPA firm that filed his taxes and he failed to report the embezzled funds as income. He was ordered to pay restitution to the foundation and $629,289 to the IRS.