Ex-art gallery CEO gives tearful apology for fraud
The former chief executive of the Art Gallery of Calgary made a tearful apology Wednesday for defrauding her employers of $100,000 through false expense claims.
“I made a terrible mistake. I realize that now. I never intended to hurt the gallery,” Valerie Cooper told provincial court Judge Anne Brown following sentencing arguments.
“If anybody had come to me and said it was wrong, it’s criminal, I never would have done it. When (defence lawyer Willie) deWit said I’ll never do it again, he’s correct.”
DeWit earlier argued for a conditional sentence of less than two years, to be served in the community for Cooper, 57, who pleaded guilty April 17 to one count of fraud over $5,000.
Crown prosecutor Steve Johnston said a jail sentence of two years less a day was appropriate for the offence.
“Ms. Cooper did something wrong and she feels ashamed,” said deWit. “She made fictitious invoices to recoup expenses she said she had paid out of her pocket. That’s a fraud.
“But it is not greed when a person tries to get back money that came out of her own pocket. She had expanded the business while she was there, there were many more employees at the gallery than when she started and she was incurring more expenses.
“She was told she needed a paper trail to recoup these expenses she believed she had coming to her. She simply put the expenses down on these invoices, which were false invoices.”
DeWit also noted his client has already paid the gallery full restitution through a civil settlement. He also said she has receipts for $61,000 in donations she made to the gallery over the time she worked there.
However, Johnston said restitution is not a mitigating factor, as it is expected someone who steals should return the money.
“With the same hand she is donating to the Art Gallery of Calgary she’s also stealing from it,” said Johnston. “The Crown says she is in such a position of trust that anything less than incarceration is not enough.
“She is not just an employee of the company, she was an employee and the CEO. In a corporation, there is no higher position. So her culpability is much higher. She knows this was a charitable organization that relies on donations and she took advantage of that.”
Johnston also submitted three victim impact statements to the court which outlined the devastating damage to the gallery’s reputation as a result of the fraud and negative publicity.
Brown reserved her decision on sentencing until Nov. 1.