Donald L. Robison agrees to forfeit $11 million after making millions in investments
By: BRI HEANEY, NEWS EDITOR
In April 2019, STLCC filed a civil lawsuit against former employee Donald Robison, who managed a state fund for the college, for breach of contract in connection with an alleged claim that he embezzled no less than $5.4 million.
Robison has since plead guilty to 15 counts of mail fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud in connection to approximately 7.5 million dollars that was allegedly embezzled from the state fund.
“We filed a civil suit back in April,” said Chancellor Jeff Pittman. According to an Aug. 7 STLCC press release, the college “immediately began an internal investigation and worked in full cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI.”
Pittman said that he is “grateful for a quick investigation and resolution in securing this guilty plea.”
Robison was ordered to forfeit $11 million from the funds that were allegedly invested over the course of 10 years. Robison is being sued by the state as well and is named in a criminal investigation that was pursued by both the state of Missouri and the FBI.
“The FBI got involved very quickly,” said Pittman.
The entire team of people involved in bringing information forward in Robison’s embezzlement case were thanked in the colleges most recent PR statement.
“The College sincerely thanks the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI for their quick action in bringing charges and securing Robison’s guilty plea; and also, the College’s internal Response team, BKD CPA & Advisors LLP and Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale for their hard work on this case.”
In April, Pittman said that school administrators were working to discover how and why funds were being diverted away by Robison to a fictitious company, owned by Robison. Questions regarding how the funds were managed solely by Robison also surfaced during the investigation.
According to Pittman, STLCC had previously established an arrangement with Missouri’s Department of Economic Development whereas the college authorized, administered and dispersed money from the state fund at a 15 percent fee. Robison had the exclusive privilege within the St. Louis metro area to so while the college also had its own career development program that the funds could be allocated to without incurring a fee.
In April, Pittman said he was surprised by the arrangement.
This is not the first embezzlement scandal affecting STLCC. In 2009, Steven Wyatt Earp, a former Meramec student and political consultant for the Proposition E-J campaign was convicted of two felony counts for stealing more than $25,000 from the STLCC campaign Citizens for Education and Job Training. He was ordered to repay $189,000 and was sentenced to probation.
