<p>Lehigh is a victim in this too. I am sure Lehigh’s administration is just as mad as everyone else. It doesn’t help for us to attack our children’s school. </p>
<p>Right now, I am the treasurer of a non-profit. We have all known each other for years. No one would assume misconduct of anyone. We assume the bills and reports presented by our Executive Director are correct We are not nosing around accounting for every expenditure. We are not calling vendors asking if bills are being paid. Even now if i was to examine our books I don’t know if I could discover fraud. If someone works inside an organization wants to lie and steal it could be hard to catch it. How long did it take the federal government to catch Bernie Madoff? He wasn’t caught. The money ran out. </p>
<p>I have faith the alumni are going to take care of this as best they can.</p>
<p>Lehigh and FMA seperated like 4 or 5 years ago. Not sure why they are in the directory at that address as they moved out of there years ago. The only billing that Lehigh does for the frats and sororities is they bill the room cost as they own the facilities. Everything else is billed by a seperate company or FMA if your chapter is with them. FMA was run by betty fisher and her family and they screwed the students. Lehigh has stepped up to help the undergrads and keep them fed.</p>
<p>While Lehigh may have pitched in the extra meal plans, most of the guidance and extra financial support will come from the house alumni. The actives need help with everything from contacting their nationals, insurance companies, and payroll companies, to asset recovery, legal assistance, budgeting and tax preparation. Although I would assume Lehigh is much more involved than they want to be (both by necessity and to save face) to my knowledge they have not done anything more than cover 2 meals/day yet. I am hopeful they can step in to help in other ways, but that remains to be seen.</p>
<p>Regardless of the circumstances that led to the crisis some of us are faced with, all Greeks (alumni and actives) need to come together to assure that the Greek system at Lehigh not only survives, but thrives. While I am also proud of my alma mater, I am just as proud of my fraternity and association with Greek life at Lehigh. </p>
<p>I would be honored to help. My son does not want us to get involved. I understand and respect that. But if there was a website or something I would be happy to send money. Thank you for all your hard work! </p>
<p>I wonder if students affected who paid by credit card can do a partial charge back due to services paid for and not received. Then the credit card company can just remove the appropriate amount from FMA’s account. This has worked for me in the past when a company has filed for bankruptcy. I was able to get a 100% recover immediately. FMA would have 60 days to dispute, but they don’t have a leg to stand on since they are no longer providing the service. </p>
<p>I would hope that students who could get some relief from credit card chargebacks can then pool the money to keep some of the chefs employed at least part-time. </p>
<p>Assuming this is a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy, a Trustee will be assigned. Forensic accounting will be done. Any fraud will be discovered. Fraudulent transfers (those made either after or in light of insolvency) can be voided and clawed back. A vigorous attempt at reclaiming funds will be made. The Trustee and other lawyers and accountants will be paid first, then employees, secured and unsecured creditors. Vendors will be lucky to receive pennies on the dollar. Will those vendors then be suing the Fraternities? Nationals? the University? This is going to get quite complicated and ugly. Can the Greeks survive this?</p>
<p>Yes, but credit card holders have been able to get refunds on airline tickets for example even when an airline goes bankrupt. The charge back is not a fraudulent transfer. I think that those that paid by credit card should try to get the charges reversed. </p>
<p>. Would a “refund” of monies paid into an insolvent entity be considered a voidable transfer? I do not know. It would certainly make sense to act immediately to attempt a refund but in this case it may be too late. Of course, even after refund an aggressive trustee could demand a clawback for any payments made up to 6 years back but at least the money would be in your hands. </p>
<p>My son is in a frat and was home on break when we heard the bad news! Do you know his first worry was about his chef who he and the boys love so much! I was so proud of him! What a nice caring group of young men in his frat. Within a few hours he called the chef to see if she was ok and to listen to her concerns. He also asked her for a recipe he loved that she makes so I could make it for him:) she said no matter what she would cook for the Sunday night they were arriving back. What a wonderful person. I feel terrible. I have not gotten any updates but he said she will be back next semester. Shame on those people who stole but they have to live with themselves and our kids all learned a great lesson about life and business!</p>
<p>Just confirmed in an e-mail sent out from the school and Bethlehem-Lehigh police that FMA did embezzle the money. Betty Fisher is being tracked down by the FBI and IRS. She used the money to pay her family money she owed them. Created the Betty Fisher Foundation, she gave large amounts of money to Desi Fluck and Brittany Silfes, both FMA employees. All the missing money was put in this account. This was confirmed by 3 house presidents, this update is not a joke…</p>
<p>Thanks, streetfighter411. Not surprised about the other two from the way they would come up with every excuse to avoid reimbursing kids. Are they tracking Desi and Brittany down, too? </p>
<p>This e-mail was sent to another house, so as far as I know, this is legit. “Allegedly” took funds and FBI and IRS are tracking her down. She allegedly used the money to pay her family back money that was owed. Allegedly Brittney and Desi were both in on it, they received large payments along with the Betty Fisher Foundation. Don’t know if money is being recouped, or what is even there. A certain vendor has sent out a letter of intent to sue to recoup their costs, awful right. I can see Desi allegedly being involved, she went on vacations with Betty to her house in the Bahamas. And they were never in the office! They would always use the excuse they were at a conference!!! And us chefs could never get direct deposit! We begged for it! Looking back, they did not want to provide it because the money needs to be there at a certain date and time, and with all the alleged money switching and what not, it would not work. With issuing a check, they had a couple of days to put money back. </p>