An Oregon weekly newspaper has had to lay off its entire staff and halt print after 40 years because its funds were embezzled by a former employee, its editor said, in a devastating blow to a publication that serves as an important source of information in a community that, like many others nationwide, is struggling with growing gaps in local news coverage.
About a week before Christmas, the Eugene Weekly found inaccuracies in its bookkeeping, editor Camilla Mortensen said. It discovered that a former employee who was “heavily involved” with the paper’s finances had used its bank account to pay themselves $90,000 since at least 2022, she said.
The paper also became aware of at least $100,000 in unpaid bills — including to the paper’s printer — stretching back several months, she said.
FYI, it is not dead yet.
The paper has launched a fundraising effort that included the creation of a GoFundMe page. As of Friday afternoon — just one day after the paper announced its financial troubles — the GoFundMe had raised more than $11,000.
Now that the former employee suspected of embezzlement has been fired, “we have a lot of hope that this paper is going to come back and be self-sustaining and go forward,” he said.
How is 90k enough to kill a company? Payroll likely dwarfs that number. And creditors will usually work with you if there’s an issue like that and you can show them what happened and how it’s fixed.
While I have no idea of specifics, 90K missing plus 100K in debt to several places, including to the paper’s printer, might be the real issue. The debt stretches back months, and it’s possible companies were threatening to stop doing business with the paper. If the printer cuts you off, you can’t print the paper that would make up lost revenue. And it’s going to be hard to get financing for a new printer when you have outstanding unpaid debt.
The paper also became aware of at least $100,000 in unpaid bills — including to the paper’s printer — stretching back several months
I feel like many of those vendors would be willing to setup payment plans or forgive some of the debt outright if the lapsed can prove they were victims of embezzlement (theft) and criminal negligence (not paying the bills of the company as the one responsible for such)
I’m sure many of my vendors would work with me, several of them I approve paying this entire debt amount to them monthly.
I feel like many of those vendors would be willing to setup payment plans or forgive some of the debt outright if the lapsed can prove they were victims of embezzlement (theft) and criminal negligence (not paying the bills of the company as the one responsible for such)
Maybe 90k is all they can prove at the moment, but it’s really a larger number.
It also seems like something you’d have insurance for.
Eugene isn’t big, and paper is dying. They probably operated on a very tight budget.
That dude is fucked when he gets arrested and there’s just a super clear paper trail leading back.
I hope the paper manages to survive this, and maybe recoup some of the money lost through legal means. And I hope they can hire their staff back soon! I bet none of them would be against going back considering!
The clever part is that there is no paper trail: the printer hadn’t been paid. 🤓
Disappointing! I read it quite regularly at my local coffee shop when I lived in Eugene. It wasn’t the best journalism, to be sure, but it was quite good for a free paper!
My dad worked for a major bank. Sometimes when an employee stole money from the bank, it made the news. Other times, the bank kept quiet about it. You don’t always hear about this stuff because the business is too embarrassed to make it public.
Greed, the one thing the left and right can unite on.
