Former Tulsa Fair Board Employee Sentenced To Prison For Embezzlement

A former employee for the Tulsa Fair Board will spend more than three years in federal prison for skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Investigators said Brandy Okey embezzled money from box office sales. Federal prosecutors said Okey will have to pay back the $650,000 she stole.

Staff at Expo Square said they’ve made big changes so that it doesn’t happen again.

Federal court documents said Okey used her financial management position at Expo Square to siphon money and created take statements to cover it up for three years. U.S. Attorneys said Okey stole more than $650,000 and hid the cash in her home and in her personal bank accounts.

Investigators said she had access to the finances and cash deposits at Expo Square but wasn't authorized to use those funds for personal use. Documents said Okey took the Company deposits and removed cash from them. They said she shredded the original deposit slip and made new ones.

"A few months before we were made aware of this criminal activity, I had hired another CPA to come on what I thought would be just short-term,” Expo Square President Mark Andrus said. “I said tell me how we're doing, how can we improve our process and our system and what we're doing.”

Andrus said after several months, the new accountant discovered the problems.

He said they didn't suspect anything bad was happening at first but have now made changes to their internal operation, so it doesn't happen again.

"It's tough, when you ask the person with the keys to the car, 'hey where are we driving, do we need to have a tune up, is there anything we can get for you that'll help you drive this car, and when that person said no, because' you can either trust them, or not,” Andrus said.

U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said white collar criminals don't get a pass for the financial damage they do to businesses.