A closer look at WTVP’s audit shows evidence of embezzlement, cover-ups

PEORIA ( 25News Now ) - The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) watchdog released an 83-page audit that paints an incriminating picture of WTVP's financial situation.

WTVP has been in the local media's headlines since September 2023, when its former CEO Lesley Matuszak died by suicide .

Since then, several investigations have uncovered what happened to hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money that was supposed to be used for WTVP under Matuszak's leadership.

The Inspector General, who is the watchdog, found that WTVP overstated its non-federal financial support (NFFS), or yearly donation total by $1,020,410. That number is used to determine how much Community Service Grant (CSG) money WTVP receives each year.

WTVP must fully comply with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's requirements to receive federal grant money.

As a result of overstating, the public television station received $130,873 more in federal grants than it should have.

This only scratches the surface of what was found.

WTVP also did not adequately keep records for special fundraising events. Grant money was not kept separate for the station and for Peoria Magazine , which printed its last magazine in November 2023 due to WTVP's financial shortfalls.

The PBS station also overstated its special events gross revenues, totaling $294,028. One reason why is that WTVP did not allocate event revenues equitably between Peoria Magazine and television station operations. WTVP included Peoria Magazine's advertising revenues from the special events totaling $266,678.

Embezzling for personal gain WTVP held a fundraising event in June of 2023.

The event was marketed to also benefit two outside charitable organizations and included sponsored promotions in Peoria Magazine.

The audit found Matuszak had control over the marketing, sponsorship revenue generation and expenditures for this event. WTVP did not share any funds from its sponsorships and ticket sales with the two charities.

Auditors highlighted another significant event, which was an online auction that started in 2021. It was supposed to feature luxurious items like jewelry, accessories, furniture, and other items that were apparently stored at WTVP.

However, the audit found only a few luxury items were actually donated, and it found the station bought most of the items on consignment only after they had been purchased at auction.

Station staff and board members who attended the event informed the auditors they were not aware of any jewelry items up for auction.

Instead, the station and Matuszak purchased the jewelry with federal grant money for $31,000 and recorded it all in a discrete general ledger that made it look proper.

The annual financial reports for 2021 and 2022 omitted several auction-related account expenses.

Other Findings The watchdog detailed other shortfalls that WTVP:

Had weak and ineffective controls for reporting and tracking the money coming in and going out.

Allocated $13,000 for illegal lobbying activities.

Failed to post its full annual financial report in Fiscal Year 2022, and instead posted a summary version.

Improperly notified the public of open and closed meetings.

The final portion of the audit shows a letter from current WTVP CEO Jenn Gordon and the board.

The station agreed with all the findings in the audit and detailed its efforts to fix these errors inherited from the previous board.