Subpoenas issued in town council members’ lawsuit over Swansea’s missing $3 million
A dispute over $3 million missing from the town of Swansea is headed to court.
Two town council members and a town resident filed suit Aug. 19 to attempt to force answers from town officials about $3.3 million a Swansea town audit found to be missing, and some officials may be compelled to turn over documents related to the missing money before the end of the month.
Council members Doris Simmons and Mike Luongo, along with town resident Barrett Black, are suing the town, Mayor Viola McDaniel, treasurer Margaret Harvey and John Brown, the CPA who performed the audit.
Both council members had raised concerns about the missing money as the town attempts to pass a new budget for the current fiscal year.
The lawsuit indicates the town council members asked McDaniel to address the missing money at a town council meeting Aug. 16, but they were unable to get answers to their questions and were told the auditor would only respond to questions in writing.
“The Mayor shut the meeting down of August 16, 2022 before the issue of the audit was even discussed and she indicates she does not want to go back and review the issues related to the Three Million ($3,000,000.00) dollars,” the lawsuit says. “The Mayor indicates we need to move forward and not backwards.”
Simmons previously told The State council members have not been told what the missing assets consist of, whether it’s money or other items like town vehicles or equipment.
The lawsuit asks a court to order the town council to publicly address the issue, for the auditor to answer council members’ questions and that those responsible for the missing $3 million be identified.
Subpoenas have been issued to Harvey and Brown to appear for depositions in the case later this month to answerquestions about the town’s finances under oath and present documents related to the audit and how Swansea taxpayers’ money has been managed, TV station WLTX reported.
The subpoena specifically requests deposit slips for the town’s water account from 2017 to 2022.
The depositions in the lawsuit will take place at the West Columbia offices of attorney Jahue Brown, who is representing the plaintiffs, on Sept. 30, the Lexington County Chronicle reports.
In addition to the missing money, the 2021 audit also found accounts added to the town’s general ledger that “appear to be invalid” and “appear to be improperly accounted for,” with town income not being properly documented.
The audit is the latest bad financial news for the town, after former Mayor Jerald Sanders was indicted on charges of embezzlement and misconduct in office last year. Sanders is accused of withdrawing $4,500 worth of checks written to him from public funds without authorization, which were then reportedly deposited into an account only he had access to.
Sanders has pleaded not guilty in that case, and has not been tied to the missing $3 million. McDaniel was elected to replace Sanders last year after the former mayor’s indictment.
The town has not filed a formal response to the town council members’ lawsuit. Lawyer Jonathan Milling, representing Harvey in the case, told The State that his client is “adamant” she committed no wrongdoing and did her job properly. Calls to McDaniel and Brown were not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.
Swansea is in the southeastern corner of Lexington County about 20 miles south of Columbia. The small town has less than 1,000 residents.
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