Federal investigators say domestic violence nonprofit, Montana Native Women’s Coalition, mismanaged more than 333,318 dollars worth of grant money from 2015 to 2018.
The Department of Justice on Thursday released a financial-compliance audit that found the organization failed to provide documentation for expenditures or put adequate systems in place to guard against money mismanagement within the organization.
Ex leaders Sheryle Lynn Lawrence and Barbara Mary Daycheif were convicted of theft and embezzlement earlier this year.
According to the audit, Montana Native Women’s Coalition mishandled around a third of the $900,000 dollars in grant funding it received from the DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women.
The coalition responded last Friday to the audit with a press release stating that in 2018 the organization became aware of the mismanagement and worked with the DOJ to better implement financial procedures.
The organization was informed of the formal start of the audit in February of 2020.
Taylar Stagner is Yellowstone Public Radio's Report for America Indigenous Affairs reporter.
