Copyright © 2021 Albuquerque Journal
The Tanoan house where Ayudando President Susan Harris lived with her husband William Harris. (Colleen Heild / Albuquerque Journal)
Five years before a massive embezzlement plan at Ayudando Guardians Inc. was publicly exposed, the company’s tax advisor warned of signs of “illegality” on the company’s books.
Susan K. Harris
But Ayudando President Susan K. Harris and her husband William Harris signed a nondisclosure agreement with the accountant to prevent him from “telling someone else about the crimes,” according to a US Attorney General’s record. In return, the accountant received $ 11,403 for his services in May 2012.
The Harris couple, along with their son and business partner, were finally arrested in 2017 and brought to justice. By then, they had made more than $ 11 million in client money over a 10-year period.
William Harris
The pact with the accountant in 2012, according to the federal prosecutor, was an attempt by the defendants to keep their system secret and made it possible to siphon off almost 1,000 customer accounts unhindered over the years.
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“Millions of dollars in sacrifice money would have been saved if Bill (Harris) had spoken at this point (2012),” US assistant attorney Jeremy Peña said last week. Harris, 60, a representative of Ayudando’s guardian, was sentenced to a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Susan Harris, 74, described by Peña as the architect of the criminal enterprise, was sentenced to 47 years in prison.
The two fled New Mexico in March 2020 to avoid the original hearing on the case. When they were arrested weeks later in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Susan and William Harris had only $ 400 in their possession. They lived under false names with their pet Chihuahua.
As their funds have been used up, many former customers of the Albuquerque-based company are now destitute or homeless, US District Judge Martha Vázquez said at the verdict last week.
And it is unclear whether they will ever be repaid.
That’s because the defendants spent their customers’ funds on a lavish lifestyle that included expensive cars, upscale homes, and $ 300,000 for a private luxury box in the pit where the catering tab went up to $ 5,000 each Basketball game, the judge said.
In the years after the accountant’s concerns were silenced, Ayudando’s chief financial officer Harris and Sharon Moore spent more than $ 100,000 on famous Caribbean cruises and Hawaii vacations.
“There was no investment. The money is gone, “said a memorandum from the US Attorney’s Office in New Mexico.
The company’s customers included military veterans, people with mental or physical disabilities, mental illnesses, or individuals who just needed help with managing their finances.
“The depth of the betrayal is almost unfathomable,” Peña said during last week’s verdict hearing.
While the Ayudando directors acted it out, their clients struggled because they weren’t getting the care or cash allowances they needed.
“Defendants Susan and William Harris have courted hundreds of vulnerable victims and promised to help them,” said Peña. “Instead, they picked them clean.”
‘Family ATM’
Details of the confidentiality agreement with the accountant were revealed when the verdict was announced last week.
According to the 2012 prosecutor’s memorandum, Albuquerque tax advisor Timothy P. Taylor recognized “the defendant (Susan Harris) was using the business as a family ATM.”
Taylor wrote a letter to Ayudando’s attorney “outlining his concerns,” Vázquez said in court last week, and the parties entered into a confidentiality agreement.
“Instead of stopping their illegal activities,” the Harris couple paid off the accountants, and “the defendants were able to keep their conspiracy alive for several years,” said Vázquez.
Ayudando, one of the largest guardianship law firms in New Mexico, opened in 2004 to represent clients in court-appointed guardianships and conservatories, and to manage government benefits such as disability payments for other clients.
The nonprofit also acted as a trustee for individuals with escrow or savings accounts and had a contract with the New Mexico Office of Guardianship to handle cases involving low-income individuals.
Vázquez said Thursday that the illegal activity began around November 2006, following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and other federal agencies.
In the summer of 2016, several Ayudando employees alerted law enforcement authorities after discovering discrepancies in customer accounts. A year-long criminal investigation eventually resulted in a 33-point charge against Susan Harris and her business partner Sharon Moore, Harris’ husband and adult son, Craig Young, who also worked for the firm.
Ayudando no longer existed in September 2017.
‘Separation Agreement’
In their submission of the judgment, the prosecutors cited a letter dated May 10, 2012 to Ayudando’s lawyer, Corbin Hildebrandt from Albuquerque, the accountant Taylor.
In the letter, Taylor wrote that “Susan Harris disregarded nonprofit disclosure laws, overpaid family salaries, paid for personal cars with business money, used American Express business cards as personal cards, high and unreasonable ‘loans’ from business for herself and her family and denied him access to American Express account records or certain company accounts, ”the prosecutors said.
Neither Taylor nor Hildebrandt responded to the Journal’s requests for comments last week. Neither was charged in the case.
In an “mutual separation agreement” signed the day after Taylor’s letter, the tax advisor agreed to “hand over his documents to the business attorney and not to make any” derogatory statements “,” criticism “or” critical comments “” the couple Harris or Ayudando Guardians, the prosecutors wrote. Susan Harris agreed to pay the accountant’s $ 11,403 bill for services “no questions asked.”
“After this bitter separation, Susan Harris adjusted the name on the American Express business account so that the physical cards no longer had ‘Ayudando Guardians’ on their faces – but otherwise no verifiable change was made to their customer money extraction scheme,” Peña and U.S. Assistant Attorney Brandon Fyffe wrote on her file.
Taylor’s letter, which is attached to the court file, refers to a “cease and desist letter” dated May 9, 2012 from Ayudando attorney Hildebrandt.
“It was absurd,” Taylor told the attorney, “to describe a cease and desist statement and a prosecutor’s statement if I didn’t obey … your letter of formal notice.”
If the case was brought before a judge, Taylor wrote to Hildebrandt, the discovery would “in fact uncover behavior of your clients that is illegal, and very likely criminally illegal within these illegals”.
The Harrises, he wrote, “have no regard for the law … they just don’t have periods.”
Taylor continued, “You need to know, of course, that there are more … your customers (sic) are at risk, which is why you want me to refrain.”
If the matter went to court, Taylor wrote, the action would reveal information the public could learn … “and that the company is clearly being treated like a personal ATM … and nothing more.”
Taylor’s letter ended on a somewhat conciliatory note.
“However, there is a lot that is good about the way Susan’s employees deal with the penniless ‘period’. It is not that those being helped would receive similar or less needed care than others, they simply would not get care. Unfortunately, for this reason, Susan believes it is too big for the Guardianship Office to close because there is no room to house these people. “
He added, “It is clear, however, that there are many other areas where Ayudando could be closed anyway under certain circumstances and I really don’t want that to happen.”
The resulting mutual agreement required confidentiality unless either party was summoned or instructed by a judge to consider the matter.
When asked, the parties should only state that their business relationship has been terminated.