Guardianship protections are inadequate

By Lorraine Mendiola

It is appalling that Susan Harris and her husband, Bill, formerly of Ayudando Guardians, failed to appear at their sentencing hearing in March.

Judge Martha Vázquez issued a bench warrant for their arrest, and they were captured in Oklahoma in April. They await sentencing for their crimes, accused of bilking clients of some $11 million. And the people whose money they took, and their families, still are waiting to see justice carried out — with little mention of restitution.

In New Mexico, vulnerable individuals under court-appointed guardians, in this case a corporation, lack adequate protection despite recent legislation being passed. Senate Bills 19 and 395, passed in 2018 and 2019, do not go far enough in protecting the rights of people.

Lengthening the annual report offers no accountability for the “protected person.” Providing a form for a family to file a grievance against a corporate guardian does little good — the judge who appointed the guardian decides the complaint.

There have been two recent cases in Las Cruces, another in Hatch and one in Santa Fe where a judge ordered what I believe were unwarranted guardianships. All four cases involved sizeable trusts. From my observations, these judges too often ignore the comments and supporting evidence of family members in regards to negligence, financial theft and other wrongs by corporate guardians. Yet it is the responsibility of these judges to ensure the safety and well-being of individuals who are placed under a court-ordered guardianship.

I believe judges who place individuals in situations where they are harmed by corporate guardians need to be held accountable. The judges should not be able to void wills, durable powers of attorney and other documents that should be binding. Judges should not be allowed to place “gag” orders on family members who report critical information during status hearings, either.

The courts do not monitor themselves, so there must be greater oversight by the attorney general, the governor, state legislators and state Supreme Court justices. Otherwise, the system — which I see as corrupt and failing to protect the vulnerable — will continue.

Lorraine Mendiola is a member of the New Mexico Family Guardianship/Conservatorship.

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Guardianship protections are inadequate

Fugitive couple involved in Ayudando Guardians case arrested in Oklahoma

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M (KRQE) – A couple who stole from veterans and people with disabilities in New Mexico have been arrested in Shawnee, Oklahoma on Wednesday. According to a release, US Marshals arrested New Mexico fugitives and Ayudando principals Susan and William Harris with the assistance of the Bernalillo County Sheriff Department.

Susan and William Harris were supposed to be sentenced in March as part of the Ayudando Guardians Inc. case, but they didn’t show up. Ayudando was one of the state’s largest guardianship firms which helps people pay their rent and other bills.

Susan Harris who was president at the time along with her husband used their client’s money as part of the fraud scheme and money laundering conspiracy. According to court records, the stolen funds were used to pay off more than $11 million in credit card charges incurred by the defendants and their families.

Statement of U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson on arrests of Susan and William Harris by U.S. Marshals Service in Oklahoma:

“In keeping with its highest traditions and revered reputation, by tracking and apprehending these fugitives the United States Marshals service has demonstrated once again that any attempt to flee from justice is a fool’s errand,” said USA Anderson. “Thanks to the dedication of the Marshals Service, these defendants will face sentencing for their crimes, and their victims will be afforded some measure of closure to the lengthy ordeal they have endured. I also thank the Albuquerque and Oklahoma City divisions of the FBI, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance in the fugitive investigation.”U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson

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Fugitive couple involved in Ayudando Guardians case arrested in Oklahoma

Warrants issued for couple guilty in guardian fraud case

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A federal judge issued bench warrants Monday for the former president of a now-defunct nonprofit that provided guardianship services for vulnerable and special needs clients and her husband after they both failed to appear for sentencing for money laundering and other crimes.

Susan Harris, 73, was facing a minimum of 30 years in prison while her husband, William Harris, faced seven years for crimes related to the embezzlement of an estimated $10 million.

As one of New Mexico’s largest guardianship firms, Ayudando Guardians Inc., was shuttered by federal authorities in 2017 after the embezzlement was exposed. Some of the more than 800 victims who lost money were expected to address the court as the hearing continued Monday.

Defense attorneys told U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez they could not reach the couple by phone Monday when they failed to show up for court.

The couple had been free pending sentencing after surrendering their U.S. passports and putting up their home in an affluent Albuquerque neighborhood as security.

Two other defendants did appear for sentencing. They are former chief financial officer Sharon Moore and Harris’ son Craig Young.

Federal prosecutors say the defendants used client trust, savings and other funds to finance a lavish personal lifestyle that included luxury vacations, and upscale homes and vehicles.

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Warrants issued for couple guilty in guardian fraud case

See Also:
Who guards the guardians?: Judge vows to fight for clients who lost trust funds

Guardianship company closed, U.S. Marshals Service says

Lawmaker: Guardian system ‘turned ugly’

Albuquerque firm accused of embezzling about $50k from clients

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - A non-profit that's supposed to be helping vulnerable people with their finances is accused of bilking them out of money. Many of those clients had already fallen victim to crooks before.

Attorney General Hector Balderas says he got a tip from a local judge last year about the CEO of Guardian Angels Representative Payee Services, taking money from more than 240 disabled clients.

Thursday, he issued a search warrant and found the business took about $50,000 in a banking scheme.

"We already confirmed that we don't believe these proceeds were spent in the interest of the clients and so I'm very concerned," says Attorney General Hector Balderas.

Balderas says BBVA Compass Bank was offering a promotional $200 bonus for opening up a checking account. According to a search warrant, Guardian Angels opened up accounts for 247 clients, and CEO Pamela Crumpler would take the $200 bonuses and transfer them to the company's account.

The AG's Office found Crumpler had been doing this since June 2018, pocketing almost $50,000.

Friday, a client of Guardian Angels told KRQE News 13 he's had problems with them in the past.

"They need to do a more thorough background check and they need to do more audits on them," said Roger Hardy.

Hardy was also a victim of the now defunct Ayudando Guardians.

Many of Ayudando's clients were moved to Guardian Angels after their founders were charged with stealing more than $4 million from accounts to feed their lavish lifestyle.

KRQE News 13 reached out to Crumpler, the CEO of Guardian Angels, Friday afternoon. She did not wish to comment and said thank you for the call, then hung up.

The AG's Office anticipates charging Crumpler sometime next week.

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Albuquerque firm accused of embezzling about $50k from clients

AG says vulnerable clients were victimized a 2nd time

Attorney General Hector Balderas sounded the alarm Friday for more oversight of professional firms that handle money for vulnerable people, disclosing that his office has “credible evidence” that an Albuquerque company siphoned about $50,000 from nearly 250 clients after inheriting their cases from the now-defunct Ayudando Guardians Inc.

The AG’s allegations against Guardian Angels Representative Payee Services, located on San Pedro NE, represent the third time in less than two years that a private company entrusted to manage finances for special needs or otherwise vulnerable people has been accused of embezzling their funds.

No arrests have been made, but AG agents executed a search warrant Thursday at the firm and removed several dozen boxes of documents. The owner/operator of the company, Pamela Crumpler, had no comment Friday when contacted by the Journal.

Balderas cited the “critical investigation” of the firm in asking Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a letter Friday for her assistance in combating the “guardianship crisis in our State.”

“In the wake of this investigation and previous scandals,” Balderas wrote, “we have the opportunity to trigger all available state resources and create more oversight in these matters.”

He noted “systemic failures of state and federal governments that must be immediately addressed by all stakeholders.”

“The current lack of state regulation and oversight of guardianship and representative-payee services presents a clear and present danger of repeated exploitation of this population that deserves our immediate attention, intervention and protection,” he wrote.

Ayudando Guardians Inc., one of the state’s largest guardian and representative payee services firms, was closed by the U.S. Marshals Service in late August 2017 after its two principals and two family members were implicated in a $4 million embezzlement of client funds.

The four defendants are awaiting trial in federal court on money laundering, fraud and other charges linked to the scheme that prosecutors say supported a lavish lifestyle that included vacation cruises and luxury cars.

Ayudando’s estimated 1,400 clients were transferred by U.S. Marshals to other guardians or firms, like Guardian Angels, whose website states that it is a nonprofit corporation formed for “charitable purposes.”

As a representative payee, the company charges a monthly fee to receive clients’ Social Security or other government benefits, annuity payments or settlement proceeds, and pay their expenses for food, housing and other needs.

In the federal Ayudando case, prosecutors chiefly focused on the federal military veteran benefits allegedly embezzled.

Months before the Ayudando revelations broke in 2017, state securities regulators announced that more than 70 clients of Desert State Life Management of Albuquerque were the victims of a separate $4 million embezzlement.

The clients of that now-closed firm, which acted as conservator and fiduciary for developmentally or physically disabled and elderly individuals, are still trying to recoup their losses. Meanwhile Paul Donisthorpe, former CEO of the firm, is to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on Feb. 22 after pleading guilty to money laundering and wire fraud.

In his letter to Lujan Grisham, Balderas stated that in December 2017 he received a request from Albuquerque’s state district court judges asking that his office review “certain civil guardianship matters which were not investigated or prosecuted federally.”

That resulted in the investigation of Guardian Angels Representative Payee Services, which inherited nearly 250 of Ayudando’s clients who needed help managing their funds. Balderas told the governor it was tragic that these individuals had been victimized after their cases were transferred by the U.S. Marshals to Guardian Angels.

Guardian Angels, like any other representative payee organization, “takes complete control over how these funds are expended, and where that money is ultimately deposited,” Balderas wrote in another letter Friday to officials with BBVA Compass Bank, based in Birmingham, Ala.

Guardian Angels is accused of taking advantage of a promotion by Compass Bank, in which the bank would deposit $200 into a newly created account that met the promotional requirements.

“Unfortunately,” Balderas wrote, the CEO of Guardian Angels “shifted the accounts of 247 vulnerable persons to BBVA Compass.” Then the CEO withdrew the $200 promotion from each account and deposited the funds into “an account only she had control of.”

“Investigators in my agency have probable cause to believe that the CEO of GARP converted these funds to her own personal use, to the detriment of these vulnerable persons, to pay her own personal financial obligations,” stated Balderas’ letter to the bank.

In an affidavit to search the company’s premises, an AG investigator stated that during a guardianship hearing before state District Judge Shannon Bacon of Albuquerque last September, the court-appointed guardian from Professional Guardianship Associates told the judge she had concerns about a protected person’s bank account.

Guardian Angels had been appointed to act as representative payee a year earlier for that individual, and the guardian learned the protected person’s bank account had been transferred to Compass Bank without notifying the guardian.

When she inquired of Guardian Angels about the $200 bonus, the guardian was told there had been a mistake by the bank and the money should have gone directly to the representative payee firm.

After the judge was told of the discrepancy, Guardian Angels transferred the $200 back into the protected person’s account. That prompted the AG search of other clients’ accounts.

A search warrant executed last November by the AG showed expenditures and transaction that Guardian Angels “would not have been able to conduct … had it not been for the bonus money GARP unlawfully obtained from 247 of its clients,” the AG investigator stated in an affidavit.

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AG says vulnerable clients were victimized a 2nd time

Lawmaker: Guardian system ‘turned ugly’

What’s wrong with this picture?

• Federal authorities allege that the now-defunct Ayudando Guardians Inc. was “permeated’ with criminal activity and stole millions of dollars from client accounts, yet the Albuquerque-based guardianship company survived a state compliance review just last year.

• Ayudando Guardians filed financial audits with the state Attorney General’s Office revealing that company employees “borrowed” money from client funds. But the state Office of Guardianship, which awarded Ayudando more than $6 million in contracts since 2010, says it never saw those audits.

• More than 900 incapaciated low-income people receive guardianship services through the state Office of Guardianship, but the agency gets only “two or three” grievances a year about problem guardians, according to John Block III, executive director of the agency that oversees the guardianship office.

Block was on the hot seat this week, testifying before a state legislative panel considering next year’s budget request by the state-funded guardianship office, which provides more than $4 million a year in corporate guardianship services for vulnerable, indigent New Mexicans.

“It’s very concerning what’s happening this past year,” said Sen. James White, R-Albuquerque, a Legislative Finance Committee member who lamented how the guardianship system in New Mexico has “turned ugly.”

“… A lot of the companies are abusing the system, taking advantage of the system that was set up … Unfortunately, they feel if the government can’t keep a finger on their pulse, they can get away with it.”

As to Block’s comment about “two or three” complaints a year, White said he’s just one of more than 100 state legislators, “and I have had more than two grievances (about guardianships) by constituents of mine. I would have to believe there’s a lot more grievances out there than two.”

Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, added, “I’ve had some very serious complaints brought to me about a company that does guardianships.” She asked if she could refer the complaints to Block, who on Thursday said he would look into them.

Several people in recent months have contacted the Journal to complain that their loved one is being neglected by state-paid guardians, and, in one case, a ward had to wade through Dumpsters to get a pair of shoes and has waited months to see a dentist after a front tooth fell out.

The family members say they are afraid to go public with their complaints for fear their loved one will be retaliated against.

‘More resources’

As the provider of such services for low-income clients, Block’s agency has become a lightening rod for criticism.

White on Thursday pressed Block for answers as to the oversight of Ayudando and other companies. He asked Block whether he knows “if there’s another one (guardianship company) out there that needs to be identified right now? Other than throwing money at it or more people at it, what can be done?”

“We do need more resources,” Block said. He said his agency is seeking an increase of about $70,500 next year to add a third compliance officer.

Should guardians be licensed? White asked.

“That’s an excellent idea,” Block said, “to tighten up some of the controls out there.” Most often, family members are appointed as guardians or conservators of their incapacitated loved ones to make decisions about their living arrangements or finances. But if families can’t or won’t assume those duties, corporate guardians and conservators are appointed by state district judges in New Mexico.

Risk advisory

On Sept. 21, the office of State Auditor Tim Keller issued an emergency risk advisory for the Office of Guardianship, urging Gov. Susana Martinez and the legislature to devote more resources to the agency and ensure policies and procedures are in place for adequate oversight of 20 corporate guardianship companies.

The alternative is to transfer the guardianship function to another agency, Keller’s advisory stated.

Block testified that his six-employee agency, which has a $5.1 million yearly budget, has been busy transferring about 166 clients of Ayduando’s to other guardianship firms.

Federal authorities began their investigation of Ayudando in June 2016 after several employees alleged their bosses were stealing money from client accounts. A 28-count federal indictment in July focused mostly on missing federal benefits from clients. Two top Ayudando executives allegedly spent more than $4 million in clients’ savings and other funds to support lavish lifestyles for themselves and their families.

Asked by White what his agency was doing to recoup missing client funds, Block said a claim has been filed on a $1.5 million liability insurance policy required by Ayudando’s state contract. But Block said the insurance company involved has said that “until such time as they’re convicted, we will not pay.”

“Why weren’t you all able to identify this problem?” White asked at one point during the budget hearing.

Block responded that the majority of Ayudando clients affected were “private pay,” and not receiving guardianship services through the state.

However, the Journal earlier this month interviewed one former client on a state-funded guardianship who contends that his $100,000 inheritance that Ayudando managed is now missing.

Block said that, of the 20 state guardianship contractors, only two underwent a compliance review by the Office of Guardianship in the past year. Ayudando was one of the two, and the review occurred before the federal indictment. On Friday, Block said he didn’t immediately know whether his agency found problems during the review that required corrective action from Ayudando.

Such reviews check non-financial issues, such as whether the company is keeping adequate records and making the required monthly visits to the incapaciated person.

Block told the legislative panel he didn’t have a copy of Ayudando’s yearly audits. Such audits of nonprofits are required to be filed with the AG’s office and are posted online.

“Unless we had authority and resources we could not go in there and do our own audit,” he added.

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Lawmaker: Guardian system ‘turned ugly’

Ayudando allegedly stole client’s $117,000, housed him in leaky trailer

Justin Bowers - (Colleen Heild/Albuquerque Journal)

LAS VEGAS, N.M. – For Justin Bowers, home is a travel trailer that attracts flies and leaks when it rains. Even so, it’s a step up from where his court-appointed guardian previously had him living – in a 17-man boarding home that charged $800-a-month rent.

It’s not what Bowers, who is from Albuquerque, wants. It’s not what his father, who worked 30 years for the U.S. Post Office, wanted for his son.

Bowers, 34, who has been under state-approved guardianship since 2012, inherited $117,000 when his father died in 2014 – enough money for a better life and, perhaps, more independence.

But in the hands of the now-defunct Ayudando Guardians Inc., Bowers said his trust funds have vanished.

“I just want my money back,” he said last week. “I need that money to get out of this place.”

Bowers, described as mentally disabled but highly functioning, is considered an incapacitated person under state law. Since Chief District Judge Nan Nash of Albuquerque appointed Ayudando as his guardian, Bowers has been placed at two different boarding homes in Las Vegas. According to Bowers’ mother, Ayudando officials said there was nowhere in Albuquerque to house him.

His current residence is a hail-damaged trailer – for which he pays $700 a month. It is part of a boarding home complex outside the city limits of Las Vegas.

Bowers gets one hot meal a day plus a grocery allotment – which this month consisted of oatmeal, a bag of sugar and 24 frozen waffles. He relies on a space heater to keep warm. Bowers was happy the man living in the back of trailer moved out some months back.

Initially, Ayudando paid Bowers’ living expenses from his Social Security benefits. His guardianship services were paid for by the state Office of Guardianship, because he was deemed indigent.

But after receiving his father’s life insurance proceeds in 2014, Bowers couldn’t understand why he was still living in a meager boarding home. Why Ayudando told him “no” when he pleaded for money for food and clothes. Why he could never get a straight answer as to how much insurance money he had left.

Now he thinks he knows. Ayudando president Susan Harris and chief financial officer Sharon Moore, according to a federal indictment issued in July, are alleged to have siphoned at least $4 million from client accounts to support a lavish lifestyle for themselves and their families. That’s in addition to their six-figure annual salaries.

The 13-year-old company, one of the state’s largest guardianship agencies, had about 1,400 clients statewide, 176 of whom were under court-appointed guardianships or conservatorships authorized by the state District Court in Albuquerque. Ayudando catered to military veterans and vulnerable disabled clients in need of someone to manage their affairs or their finances.

Before the U.S. Marshals office closed Ayudando offices in Albuquerque in late August, Bowers said he spoke with a company bookkeeper. All he had left was $500 in Social Security benefits.

“When we found out that all his money’s gone, it was like, ‘What?’ ” said his mother, Dawna Gomez, of Albuquerque. “… He always used to tell them, ‘You guys act like it’s your own money.’ ”

A $117,000 inheritance

Judge Nash, who appointed Ayudando as Bowers’ guardian, is expected to approve a new guardian for him on Monday.

It’s unclear when Bowers’ inheritance vanished.

The U.S. Marshals office hasn’t responded to Journal questions. Court records in guardianship cases are sealed by law.

But the public court docket sheet, listing the filings in the case, shows Nash received regular annual reports from Ayudando, as required by state law.

No actual bank statements or bond were required from the company.

Bowers said he never received copies of Ayudando’s reports to the court but now wonders whether false financial information was provided. He recalls that, sometime back, Sharon Moore told him he had about $87,000 remaining in his trust.

Moore’s attorney couldn’t be reached for comment last week.

In 2013, the docket sheet shows, Nash was asked to remove Ayudando as Bowers’ guardian. Two years later, a motion was filed to review the guardianship. But Ayudando remained Bowers’ court-appointed guardian.

Under the judicial code of conduct rules, Nash isn’t permitted to talk about pending cases. Bowers’ guardian ad litem, Elizabeth Honce, would not comment for this story.

But Bower’s mother recalled that Ayudando initially drew up documents to put the $117,000 inheritance in a trust so that if Bowers died, all remaining proceeds would revert to Ayudando.

“The judge found that unacceptable,” Gomez recalled, and new trust documents were created.

Another issue arose after her son got a part-time night job cleaning the Las Vegas offices of the New Mexico State Police earlier this year.

His paychecks went to Ayudando, which gave him only $50 a month, Bowers told the Journal.

Bowers said he informed Nash he wasn’t getting his entire $260 monthly paycheck, and the practice stopped.

His paychecks and $998 Social Security benefits pay for his $700-a-month rent on the trailer, gasoline, car insurance and cellphone.

Gomez recalled that during a June 21 hearing, Nash said she was considering appointing a conservator to manage Bowers’ funds.

At the time, an Albuquerque trust company, Desert State Life Management, had made headlines after state financial regulators discovered $4 million in missing client funds.

Ayudando’s Sharon Moore was in court that day as Bowers’ guardian.

“The judge told her, ‘I want somebody to look over your shoulder,’ ” Gomez recalled last week. But no conservator was appointed at that time, the docket sheet shows.

After the hearing, Gomez recalled, Moore came up “and put her arm around me, even though we never got along. She said, ‘You don’t have to worry about Justin’s money. It’s safe.’ ”

This is the travel trailer, part of a private boarding home complex in

Las Vegas, N.M., where the now-defunct Ayudando Guardians placed

Justin Bowers. (Colleen Heild/Albuquerque Journal)

A month later, Moore and Harris were arrested on a 28-count federal indictment that charges them with conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering. They pleaded not guilty and were released from federal custody pending trial by putting up their Tanoan Country Club-area homes as security.

“I’m upset and frustrated,” Bowers said. “They (allegedly) ripped people off, and Sharon is out there living free in her expensive house. She ain’t living in no dump.”

Enhanced oversight?

Since the federal indictment, state District Court in Albuquerque is now requiring bonds from conservators managing $30,000 or more. The New Mexico Supreme Court is considering recommendations to enhance oversight, including requiring bank statements of conservators.

But no lawyer has come forward to try to recoup funds on behalf of Ayudando’s former clients. Some say there is little left to recover, because client funds were allegedly spent mostly on entertainment and vacations rather than on assets, such as property.

In the case of Desert State, in which no criminal charges have been filed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a petition for forfeiture of a Texas cattle ranch, an Angel Fire vacation home and a Downtown Albuquerque office building owned by former CEO Paul Donisthorpe. Several attorneys representing former clients have filed lawsuits against Desert State seeking to recover their missing money.

So far, in the Ayudando case, only Harris’ 2018 recreational vehicle has been seized by the federal government.

In federal court, a judge can order restitution to victims after a criminal case ends. No trial date has been set for Harris and Moore.

‘A better life’

Halbert Bowers died at the age of 62, after retiring from the U.S. Postal Service in Albuquerque in 2011.

Justin was his only child.

“He was a dad who was very much involved with his son’s development and activities,” stated his obituary notice from the Young Funeral Home, in Yemassee, S.C.

Ayudando didn’t permit Justin to attend the funeral in South Carolina, he told the Journal.

Gomez said her son has a knack for remembering numbers, dates and names, and attended special education programs.

Until 2012, he lived with his mother, who remarried in 1995 after she and Bowers’ father divorced.

Gomez said she petitioned the court to place her son into a guardianship after “he got out of control.”

Police arrested him several times on charges that included trespassing and harassment. The cases were dismissed after he was found to be “incompetent” to stand trial. A police crisis intervention officer suggested a guardianship.

Since Bowers was placed under a guardianship, court records show he has had no subsequent arrests.

Gomez said her son had “anger issues” but is now stable and administers his own medication. He drives to work in a 2001 Lincoln Town Car that Ayudando allowed him to purchase for $5,000.

Bowers found the car himself online. But, under Nash’s order, he can’t drive outside of Las Vegas.

When he isn’t working, he says, he watches television in the trailer and on Sundays attends church.

More than anything, Bowers wants to move into his own apartment.

“I just want to get my own place and to keep working where I’m at,” Bowers said. Maybe he can find another part-time job in the morning, such as delivering newspapers or working as a dishwasher, he told the Journal. He hopes his luck will change.

“They said I was supposed to have a better life,” he said.”But how am I supposed to have a better life if they stole my money?”

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Ayudando allegedly stole client’s $117,000, housed him in leaky trailer

Editorial: Red flags should matter in NM guardianship cases

Asleep at the wheel.

That’s a polite way to describe oversight by the courts and the Attorney General’s Office of New Mexico’s scandal-rocked guardianship system over the years – a point hammered home by the revelation that independent audits of Ayudando Guardians Inc. in 2011 and 2012 pointed to clear financial impropriety. That’s impropriety in the form of top company executives “borrowing” tens of thousands of dollars from client accounts.

“There is no justification for any organization to borrow money from clients,” said Wendy York, who chairs a commission appointed by the state Supreme Court to recommend ways to improve the state’s guardianship system.

The two independent audits filed with the AG’s Office also noted Ayudando hadn’t complied with generally accepted accounting procedures. The 2011 audit noted $72,321 in employee advances, with only $23,766 in repayments during the audit year.

But despite the fact auditors red-flagged Ayudando – and despite being delinquent in filing its annual AG registration every year since 2012 – there is no indication the AG’s Office did anything, and judges in New Mexico went right on appointing the company as guardians and conservators in charge of the lives and finances of people who had been declared incapacitated and unable to care for themselves.

Perhaps that’s because the system isn’t set up in a way that the needed information gets to those judges – some of whom previously have defended the system and dismissed complaints as coming from “emotional” family members.

It was York who asked a forensic accountant to look at Ayudando’s audits and then relayed findings to the commission. The AG’s Office says it is reviewing the issues.

And Ayudando was slick. A company representative even showed up at one of the commission hearings chaired by York to defend the system by pointing to the fact that – get ready for this – it was audited every year by the state.

Ayudando had more than 176 guardianship or conservator appointments outstanding in Bernalillo County District Court in July when federal law enforcement filed a massive money laundering and fraud indictment that named the company and its two top officials – president Susan Harris and chief financial officer Sharon Moore. Federal investigators have identified more than $4 million in client money that was allegedly diverted to finance a “lavish lifestyle” by the two women and their family members. The U.S. Marshals Office says the company had about 1,400 clients, some of whom received financial management or representative payee services.

One federal agent in a search warrant affidavit described the company as “permeated by crime.”
But there is hope.

York says there are important lessons to be learned from the Ayudando debacle, including the need for an accountant who reports to the court. Improving the annual forms required of guardians/conservators to include more detailed financial information would also help.

Those are among the many reforms under consideration by York’s commission.

And York has asked the state’s chief disciplinary counsel to weigh in because her research has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest and other ethical issues surrounding lawyers that can arise in cases involving third-party corporate guardians and conservators. That’s an important step in a system in which professional guardianships involve a relatively small group of insiders.

Going forward, the courts can make some meaningful reforms. Others will require legislative action. But in the aftermath of the Ayudando case, one thing is clear: We can no longer accept being asleep at the wheel.

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Editorial: Red flags should matter in NM guardianship cases

Ayudando audits pointed to financial impropriety

The red flags were evident five years before top executives of one of New Mexico’s largest commercial guardianship companies were indicted for allegedly pilfering millions of dollars from client accounts to finance lavish lifestyles.

Independent audits and tax records submitted by Ayudando Guardians Inc. to the state Attorney General’s Office in 2011 and 2012 showed evidence of financial irregularities at the firm.

The audit reports showed “employee advances” of nearly $80,000 over a two-year-period – described as loans from client accounts to employees – including Ayudando president Susan Harris and chief financial officer Sharon Moore. Most of the money, the audits showed, was eventually repaid, but not all of it.

“There is no justification for any organization to borrow money from clients,” said Wendy York, who chairs the state Supreme Court appointed commission that is studying ways to improve New Mexico’s guardianship system.

Independent audits are required by state law of charitable organizations, like Ayudando, that received more than $500,000 in revenue each year.

It’s unclear whether anyone at the office of then-Attorney General Gary King reviewed Ayudando’s filings or did anything in response. Those are the last filings by Ayudando on the AG’s Office’s charity search website.

Efforts to reach King, who left office at the end of 2014, weren’t successful on Friday.

The Attorney General’s Office’s charity search website shows that Ayudando has been delinquent in filing its required annual registration every year since 2012, including the last two years under King’s successor, Attorney General Hector Balderas.

Asked about his agency’s oversight, James Hallinan, a spokesman for Balderas, told the Journal, “We are aware of these delinquencies which are within the scope of the Office of the Attorney General’s investigation into potential civil violations of New Mexico charities statutes.”

Hallinan said Friday that, under state law, “certain documentation is required with each application for registration or renewal. While we review every submission, the content and level of scrutiny on these documents varies.”

Federal prosecutors last year launched an investigation into Ayudando after several Ayudando employees went to federal law enforcement with complaints about mismanagement of client funds. Company filings show its clients included veterans, the elderly and the homeless.

Important lessons

York said during a commission meeting Friday that lessons learned from the Ayudando case are important for the commission as it compiles its initial recommendations for the Supreme Court, which are due by Oct. 1.

Harris and Moore were indicted in July on 28 counts of federal conspiracy, money laundering, and fraud related to an alleged embezzlement scheme of client funds that dates back at least a decade.

So far, federal investigators have identified about $4 million diverted from client accounts. The company had been in operation since 2004.

The diverted funds helped support a “lavish lifestyle” for Harris, Moore and family members who allegedly spent client money on vacation cruises, tickets to the Final Four basketball tournament, luxury vehicles, furniture and other personal expenses, according to federal documents.

Records obtained by the Journal show that Harris and Moore also bought a $42,500 suite at the Pit last basketball season, but it isn’t clear whether client funds were involved.

Harris and Moore have pleaded not guilty to the charges and have been released pending trial.

Before the U.S. Marshals Service closed Ayudando’s doors last week, the company was the guardian and/or conservator for about 185 clients, some who received state-funded services. It also had private pay clients and had managed finances for another 1,200 clients, including representative payee accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

York told the commission she has consulted with a forensic accountant who has offered advice on how the courts can provide better oversight of guardians and conservators who handle client funds, including hiring an accountant to review audits and annual filings required of guardians and conservators.

As a retired state district judge, York said she believes it would be most appropriate for the accountant or auditor to be “an arm of the court” so he or she could notify the court if discrepancies are found in audits or reports. That could lead to the removal of a guardian or conservator, she added.

Annual reports

New Mexico is one of 26 states that require yearly independent financial audits of charitable organizations.

The law seems to imply that the AG’s Office is responsible for reviewing the documents, in that it requires a charitable organization to correct any deficiencies in an annual report “upon notice by the AG’s office.”

It isn’t clear why Ayudando would not have filed an annual audit after 2012 – if in fact it did not.

But York said the accountant recommended the state modify existing law to make it clear as to what agency will review the required audits and annual reports.

Asked by commission member Sen. Gerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, whether fiscal audits “really catch theft,” York responded that “you can catch them when they are borrowing money from clients or make loans. You can’t catch everything but you can certainly catch some things.”

Ayudando audits

The two independent audits filed with the AG’s Office noted that Ayudando hadn’t complied with generally accepted accounting procedures and added, “We were unable to satisfy ourselves by means of other audit procedures on the correct allocation of the account to the Foundation and the client.”

The Ayudando audit report for 2011 noted $72,321 in “employee advances” with only $23,788 in client reimbursements.

“Formal terms of the advances were not documented in agreements, therefore, interest was not charged nor was there a stated maturity date,” the audit stated. The advances in 2011 were completely paid off in 2012, the audit stated.

A different independent auditor noted in a report for the 2012 tax year that “advances were made in previous years to various employees including the President and Secretary/Treasurer of Ayudando.” Harris took a $38,565 advance, and Moore took $10,894 – amounts the report stated were repaid.

But Harris received an additional advance of $8,636 in 2012 that hadn’t been paid by the end of the year, the audit noted.

Ayudando supplied a 990 IRS tax form to the AG’s Office in 2012 showing “director advancements for 2012 at $62,846, with total due to clients at $18,937. The audit also found Ayudando had a note payable “due to the President’s parent” with an outstanding balance of $19,919.

As president, Harris in 2012 was paid an annual salary of $138,230. Moore was paid $125,453 a year.

York said the auditor she consulted also recommended guardian/conservators keep separate bank accounts for each client account, otherwise they are “very susceptible to comingling.”

York told the commission a full-time auditor who answered to the courts could provide better oversight by regularly reviewing audits and randomly reviewing required annual reports to the court. She added that annual reports – the chief method of oversight of guardianship or conservatorship cases – are currently “pretty anemic.”

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Ayudando audits pointed to financial impropriety

Guardianship company closed, U.S. Marshals Service says

The U.S. Marshals Service announced the closure of Ayudando Guardians Inc. offices on Thursday, noting that the company had about 1,400 clients when a federal grand jury indicted its two principals and the company on charges of embezzling client funds in July.

Previous reports estimated the number of guardianship or conservator clients in New Mexico at less than 200, but it wasn’t known how many others were receiving representative payee services in which Ayudando handled monthly or regular client benefits from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Social Security Administration.

Those representative payee agreements don’t have to be approved by a court.

The Marshals Service has been under federal court order to oversee operations of the company since the July 11 federal indictment of Ayudando president Susan Harris and chief financial officer Sharon Moore. The two were charged with 28 counts of conspiracy, fraud, theft and money laundering charges arising out of an alleged scheme to embezzle funds from client trust accounts. They have pleaded not guilty.

The two women are alleged to have siphoned more than $4 million from clients’ representative payee accounts and savings or money market accounts to support lavish lifestyles for themselves and family members. The company served hundreds of clients with special needs or who are disabled.

The Marshals Service, meanwhile, has been transferring Ayudando clients to new agencies, with the help of state district court judges.

But earlier this month, the transfer process was described by one private agency professional as a “nightmare.”

One of Ayudando’s former clients was profiled by the Journal Aug. 10 because of his living conditions and his inability to find out the status of his guardianship case by trying to telephone the Marshals Service.

Peter Grotte-Higley, 81, is a Holocaust-era survivor whose living arrangements were controlled by Ayudando, which also handled his monthly pension check and finances as his court-appointed conservator. He had complained that the debit card Ayudando provided for his incidental expenses had a zero balance in recent months.

Grotte-Higley wanted to go in person to the Ayudando offices at 1400 Central SE, and he accepted an offer from two Journal reporters to drive him there on Aug. 8. But at the last minute, a manager at his Northeast Heights boarding home intervened and asked a Journal reporter to leave.

Grotte-Higley now has an Oct. 2 hearing set in his guardian/conservator case in state district court in Albuquerque, according to a court docket sheet, the only public record available by law in guardian/conservator cases.

The docket sheet shows that two new attorneys have entered appearances in his case before Judge Denise Barela-Shepherd, but there’s no indication of a new temporary guardian. Grotte-Higley, who has been an Ayudando client since January 2016, is still living in the same home.

Meanwhile, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico on Thursday provided new details about the Marshals Service’s role in winding down Ayudando operations.

The Marshals Service was appointed to operate the business “to ensure that its assets were not improperly spent or removed, and that the interests of Ayudando clients were protected as the prosecution of the criminal case moves forward.” That court order also required the Marshals Service to submit under seal to the court a report on its findings within 45 days.

The vast majority of Ayudando’s clients have been transferred to new temporary guardians, other service providers and/or new representative payees, the release says. And those still awaiting transfers will receive temporary services from other providers.

Three New Mexico guardianship companies under contract with the New Mexico Office of Guardianship – including CNRAG, Inc., Tierra Alta Guardianship Services LLC and Quality of Life Guardians LLC – will provide temporary or interim services to some former Ayudando clients.

Private clients for whom Ayudando maintained guardianship, medical power of attorney accounts, private trust accounts or conservator services will receive services from Ascending Hope LLC for guardianship services. Bridge to Success Inc. will provide financial services until the courts can appoint new guardians, if required, the press release says.

Although Ayudando’s offices are closed and transfers of clients have been processed, the Marshals Service “remains responsible for managing Ayudando’s business affairs under the magistrate’s order” and “remains committed to ensuring continuity of service for Ayudando clients,” according to the release.

Ayudando, which also had offices in Mesa, Ariz., was created in 2004.

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Guardianship company closed, U.S. Marshals Service says

Who guards the guardians?: Judge vows to fight for clients who lost trust funds

The civil case of Ayudando Guardians Inc. v. Desert State Life Management involves two companies accused of siphoning client accounts for personal gain.

With their owners absent for an initial hearing in the lawsuit Wednesday, a state district judge heard from those who are picking up the pieces after the shocking collapse this summer of the two New Mexico nonprofit companies that for more than a decade specialized in serving developmentally disabled, elderly and otherwise vulnerable clients.

In the audience were lawyers from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting Ayudando Guardians and its two principals on criminal charges of embezzling at least $4 million in client funds; and Liane Kerr, whose former husband Paul Donisthorpe has been accused by state and federal authorities of embezzling $4 million from his clients’ accounts at Desert State. He hasn’t been criminally charged.

At issue Wednesday was how to proceed with the lawsuit filed by Ayudando Guardians on June 6 seeking damages from Desert State on behalf of seven clients. Those clients entrusted their funds for Desert State to manage, the lawsuit states.

That case was filed a month before Ayudando’s two principals, Susan Harris and Sharon Moore, and the company itself, were indicted July 11 by a federal grand jury for embezzling more than $4 million from their clients. The U.S. Marshals office has been running Ayudando since then, with the prospect of a shutdown of the company imminent. Harris and Moore have pleaded not guilty.

Donisthorpe didn’t attend Wednesday’s hearing. He hasn’t responded to requests for comment and is reportedly brain damaged from a botched suicide attempt.

His wife of 31 years, Kerr, filed for divorce in March after state financial examiners began to look into Desert State’s books. She appeared in court with her attorney Wednesday, but didn’t comment. In court records, Kerr has denied any involvement in the alleged embezzlement scheme or the trust company business.

Both companies are being dismantled by government agencies in light of the fraud and embezzlement allegations.

Judge Alan Malott on Wednesday denied a motion to dismiss Ayudando’s claims against Desert State, vowing to make sure the seven Ayudando clients who may have lost trust funds at Desert State “don’t fall through the cracks” because their guardian is under federal indictment.

“There may be nothing left, but I’m going to try to get as close to the penny as I can get,”said Malott.

Desert State in early August was placed into the receivership of the state Financial Institutions Division.

An estimated 70 people who were clients of Desert State have lost some or all of their trust money, state officials say. Malott, during the hearing, said state district judges are in “crisis management” mode trying to find replacement guardians for Ayudando’s clients.

State FID attorney Kevin Graham told Malott that families and individuals, some with “limited” ability to understand “what’s going on in the case,” have contacted the state to find lawyers to help recover their missing trust funds.

Meanwhile, the state Public Accountancy Board last week revoked Donisthorpe’s CPA license.

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Who guards the guardians?: Judge vows to fight for clients who lost trust funds

Commission: No easy answers on guardianship crisis

A Supreme Court task force charged with recommending ways to reform the state’s guardianship/conservatorship system questioned Friday what can be learned from the pending federal embezzlement prosecution of Ayudando Guardians Inc. and its two principals who are charged with embezzling millions in client funds.

There were no immediate, easy answers.

“Our entire community has been rocked and outraged by the indictment,” said Wendy York, a retired Albuquerque state district judge who chairs the commission that was appointed in April by the state Supreme Court. “Ayudando, unfortunately, gives us a template for recommendations …”

York also noted that a representative from Ayudando earlier this year “made certain statements that may turn out not to be true.”

Sharon Moore, Ayudando’s chief financial officer, told commissioners in May that Ayudando was audited yearly by the New Mexico Office of Guardianship, which serves indigent clients. But an official from that office recently told the Journal the audits aren’t financial but are essentially program reviews of a guardian contractor’s staffing, policies and procedures.

Commission members hope to come up with initial recommendations for reforms by Oct. 1. Those could include recommendations for more detailed annual reports from the guardians and conservators appointed by judges around the state for adults deemed mentally incapacitated.

Commissioner Jorja Armijo-Brasher, director of Albuquerque Department of Senior Affairs, said the commission needs to figure out “what’s missing in the process so we don’t let this (Ayudando case) happen in the future.”

Tim Gardner, an attorney with the Disability Rights New Mexico, told his fellow commissioners, “I think the risk has always been there.” He said sometimes guardians and conservators file the required annual financial or guardianship reports to the court about their clients, but sometimes they don’t. Sometimes judges have the time to read the reports, he said, but sometimes they don’t.

With the state’s courts financially strained, “There’s almost never a verified audit,” Gardner said. “The system is not there to prevent this from happening.”

Commissioner state District Judge Nancy Franchini, of Bernalillo County, said she understands that Ayudando defendants, which include Moore and Ayudando president Susan Harris, were indicted solely because of alleged embezzlement of Veterans Affairs and Social Security benefits they managed for their clients. A federal indictment unsealed July 19 contends that at least 10 veterans were victims of the scheme. Losses have been estimated at $4 million or more.

“When all this came down, it was only regarding federal money. There’s nobody as far as I know who’s investigated the state money” that may also be missing, Franchini added.

The Journal earlier this week posed several questions to the U.S. Marshals Office, which is overseeing the agency’s operations under court order.

But in an email Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Marshals Service declined to answer them, noting that the Department of Justice policy “generally prohibits us from disclosing information that is not a matter of public record.”

“Ayudando clients will receive notices as part of the transfer process to new representative-payee or guardianship service providers,” the email stated. “The Marshals Service anticipates that it will close the physical Ayudando office at some point, but it will continue to oversee Ayudando’s business affairs and to ensure clients receive necessary services as ordered by the courts. The U.S. Marshals Service is committed to ensuring that all Ayudando clients continue to receive the services they need and deserve.”

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Commission: No easy answers on guardianship crisis

Who guards the guardians? Ayudando was a family affair

Ayudando Guardians Inc. opened its doors with two nurses and a medical records expert in 2004. It was formed, according to its website, “due to the enormous need for guardians and conservators in the State of New Mexico.”

The nonprofit Albuquerque-based guardian and conservator firm – now accused along with its principal owners of looting millions of dollars from client accounts – grew over the years.

And, the company increasingly became a family affair.

 Newly unsealed federal search warrant affidavits describe how Ayudando – described in one federal document as “permeated by criminal activity” – began hiring more and more relatives of its two principals, Susan Harris and Sharon Moore.

Three family members, in addition to Harris and Moore, had their own Ayudando credit cards and over a four-year period racked up more than $1 million in personal purchases, court records allege.

Two of the three family members serve on Ayudando’s board of directors, drawing salaries of at least $56,000 a year, a 2015 IRS tax form shows. Each of the three relatives racked up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card charges from 2013 to March 2017, one affidavit states.

The purchases “do not appear to be related to Ayudando clients,” said one affidavit stated. “The credit charges appear to be personal expenses such as cruises, hotels, casinos, automobiles, furniture and other personal expenses.”

The affidavits identify the three relatives as: Harris’ husband, William Harris, Craig Young and Cody Harris. They have not been charged.

Susan Harris and Moore were arrested after a 28-count federal criminal indictment was unsealed July 19. The company was also indicted.

Several Ayudando employees who became confidential witnesses in the case told investigators that Ayudando appeared to be putting “more and more family members” on the payroll and “the business owners and their families appear to be living lavish lifestyles with expensive vehicles and expensive vacations,” one affidavit states.

The organization was tightly run by the family insiders. Affidavits allege that some non-family employees had their access to client accounts cut off – meaning they lost their ability to monitor transactions and balances.

There was even a file room at the company’s Central Avenue offices that non-family members were barred from entering, an affidavit alleges.

Mission gone awry

Ayudando’s web site sets out a lofty mission statement.

“As a provider for the State of New Mexico,Veterans and private individuals, Ayudando employs an experienced team of licensed social workers and rehabilitation specialists.”

“This diverse group is able to assist our clients with their everyday needs as well as providing assistance in managing their financial needs.”

Details emerging from the yearlong federal investigation describe a different kind of operation.

Federal agents made detailed allegations in affidavits seeking search warrants to obtain company records and, more recently, sought permission to seize a 2018 K-Z RV Durango Gold 5th wheel RV purchased in late June of this year by Harris and her husband of 27 years, William Harris. They allegedly bought the RV using proceeds from an illegal scheme to embezzle funds from clients, some with special needs, according to an affidavit filed July 24.

Harris, 70, and Moore, 62, have pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, mail fraud, conspiracy and aggravated identity theft that allegedly dates back to 2006. Both women were ordered released from federal custody under certain conditions and after posting property bonds Friday.

Both have homes in the Tanoan Country Club area in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights. An attorney for Moore didn’t return a Journal phone call. Robert Gorence, who represented Susan Harris at her detention hearing, had no comment. Efforts to reach lawyers who have represented the firm in the past were unsuccessful last week.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque declined to comment on whether the family members named in the affidavits or anyone else will be charged in the case.

The arrests of the two women coincided with a federal restraining order against them and 11 others, barring their entry into Ayudando offices at 1400 Central SE without prior approval from the U.S. Marshals Service. Several of those are believed to be family members of Sharon Moore or Susan Harris.

“Based on the widespread indications of criminal activity, centered around Ayudando’s core bank accounts and affecting all categories of its clients, it appears Ayudando is permeated by criminal activity,” said one IRS agent in seeking a July 12 search of Ayudando offices. “Efforts to restrict the search to certain client files would be futile and could result in substantial under-collection of evidence of criminal activity.”

Federal agents who executed the search removed more than 476 boxes of documents along with computer hard drives from the business.

Accidental discoveries

The affidavits chronicle how over the past year at least four employees, referred to as confidential witnesses, came forward with information about the alleged embezzlement. The affidavit refers to them as “walk-ins.”

They told federal investigators how they discovered that Ayudando client funds were disappearing. At least twice, according to one affidavit, the employees found out by happenstance while company owners appeared to take steps to keep their activities hidden.

For instance, the affidavits say:

⋄ One employee accidentally wrote a check for client services from a client’s Veterans Affairs money market account. The check bounced, and, when she called the bank, she was told the money market account had been closed due to insufficient funds. According to the bank, there had been about $100,000 in transfers from the client’s VA money market account into other Ayudando bank accounts.

⋄ Employees who work as representative payees – managing monthly client pension or benefits checks from the VA or Social Security – didn’t normally have access to Ayudando petty cash account. But several months ago, an employee accidentally got access to that account “and saw that there were lots of payments from the petty cash account to the Ayudando owners and their family members. There was also a $75,000 payment to an American Express card from the petty cash.”

⋄ At least two confidential witnesses reported that their prior access to VA clients’ savings or money market accounts had been taken away several years ago. That kept them from seeing the balances. They had access only to a client’s checking accounts.

⋄ One employee alleged that she had a client who died about four or five years ago and who was missing about $30,000 from his account. The confidential witness told investigators the deceased client had money “that should have been returned to Social Security.” After she asked defendant Moore if the funds had been returned, the employee “lost access to that client’s account, and doesn’t know if the money was ever returned.”

⋄ One relative of Ayudando president Susan Harris who works as a guardian is alleged to have taken about $22,000 in client funds from two different clients and failed to provide receipts to show where the money went. Such client advances require that guardians submit receipts. When informed about the issue, Moore told the employee in charge of the accounts that she would “take care of it.”
Stealing from veterans

The indictment singles out the cases of 10 veterans the government contends were victims of the alleged embezzlement scheme. Information in the affidavits suggests there could be several dozen more clients whose accounts were illegally tapped.

For instance, one employee told federal agents that one developmentally disabled client was missing about $30,000 from his account.

Another employee discovered on Jan. 24 of this year that 25 clients were missing a total of about $70,000 from their accounts.

Still another employee told investigators “that she deals with mostly Social Security income clients who have limited income and financial resources. She stated that “she has some clients who are children that are missing money.”

The indictment alleged that the defendants diverted more than $4 million from petty cash and client reimbursement accounts to pay off credit cards used to pay for luxury vacations, vehicles and more.

The July 12 search warrant affidavit also stated, “Additional large, unusual and questionable checks were written to pay for additional items that do not appear to be related to client accounts.”

Missing private cash

“Guardianship/Conservatorship services may be needed when someone is incompetent to manage his or her own financial affairs and/or personal care, and has no viable alternative method of delegating these duties to another,” the company web site states.

About 166 of Ayudando’s clients in New Mexico receive such state-funded services, because they were deemed indigent or met other eligibility requirements. The company also had dozens of “private pay” accounts, according to court records.

The affidavits allege that more than $1 million was missing from at least eight “private pay” client accounts. An employee, referred to as confidential witness #2, was responsible for managing Ayudando’s client bank accounts, paying client bills, selling client assets such as real property and automobiles, and attending court as part of the conservatorship process.

That employee alleged that Moore, the chief financial officer, allegedly took about $700,000 from one client’s estate. The estate was supposed to be settled in February 2017 and the employee became concerned that “it wouldn’t be possible to close the estate if there was money missing.” She said Moore recently returned about $220,000 to the estate, but the money came from four other client bank accounts. Another $500,000 was still missing, the employee reported to federal agents.

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Who guards the guardians? Ayudando was a family affair