Trusted assistant steals $365,000 from not-for-profit

On June 27, 2014, Christie Talbot appeared before Judge John C. Rowley in Tompkins County Court and pleaded guilty to second degree grand larceny. Talbot stood accused of stealing more than $365,000 from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology Inc. (SPSP), a private, not-for-profit organization, at which she worked as an administrative assistant.

History of SPSP and Cornell

SPSP, founded in 1974, is "an academic society for personality and social psychologists focused on exploring and promoting research centered on how people act, think and behave," according to its website. In 2013, SPSP established its permanent headquarters in Washington, D.C. Before then, the society would house its administrative offices at the academic institution where its current executive officer was working.

At the time of this fraud case, SPSP was at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with Cornell faculty member, David Dunning, as its executive officer. According to reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service, as reported on the SPSP website, SPSP is a growing organization with total revenues of $1,130,000 in 2010 increasing to more than $2,130,000 in 2013. Net assets of $1,756,700 in 2010 grew to $3,910,000 by 2013.

Laying the foundation