Wis. US Attorney: No Comment on Fraud Request

News 8000
July 2, 2013

http://www.news8000.com/news/Wis-US-Attorney-No-comment-on-fraud-request/-/326/20804492/-/iyxax6z/-/index.html

The U.S. Attorney's office in Milwaukee confirms that it received a letter from an activist group requesting an investigation into how the Milwaukee archdiocese moved money around ahead of its bankruptcy filing.

U.S. Attorney spokesman Dean Puschnig confirmed receipt of the letter Tuesday. But he says he can't confirm or deny the existence of any investigation.

The letter was from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Spokesman Peter Isely says a 2007 letter released Monday shows evidence of bankruptcy fraud.

In the letter, then-Archbishop Timothy Dolan asked the Vatican for permission to move $57 million into a cemetery fund. Isely suggests that Dolan wanted to protect the money from creditors.

The archdiocese says the money was always set aside in a separate fund for cemetery care.