Former Marine Biology Institute Employee May Have Embezzled $800,000

A former employee at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing, California, has allegedly embezzled about $800,000 from the institution over the course of nine years.

MBARI first noticed evidence of the embezzlement during an independent audit about a month ago, said spokesman Kim Fulton-Bennett. The external auditor noticed several transactions that didn't appear to match records, said MBARI president Christopher Scholin. As to why this was able to go on for nine years without notice, Scholin said that the transactions were all relatively small and happening in accounts that tend to fluctuate a fair amount from month to month, such as payroll.

The institute has issued a statement on the matter that said: "The transfer of funds that are in question appear to have been designed to benefit a single person and in no way compromised other MBARI employees (past and present) nor does it endanger MBARI's operations."

MBARI reported the case to the Monterey County Sheriff's office on Sept. 17, which will now deal with any criminal investigation. There is no word on who the employee is and what their job was at the institute but Scholin said that the person left MBARI prior to them noticing evidence for any embezzlement.

MBARI is a private institute with a yearly operating budget of about $40 million that employs roughly 220 scientists, engineers, and administrative staff. It is a sister institution to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Monterey Bay is a hotspot for biodiversity in the United States and MBARI mainly focuses on marine biology and geology research, for instance using robotic rovers to explore the 11,000-foot-deep submarine Monterey canyon, which stretches offshore from the institute. MBARI was founded in 1987 by David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.

Image: MBARI in the late afternoon. Joe Flood/Flickr

Adam is a Wired reporter and freelance journalist. He lives in Oakland, Ca near a lake and enjoys space, physics, and other sciency things.

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