Museum Officer Charged With Fiscal Misconduct

An official at the Milwaukee Public Museum has been charged with illegally spending endowment money on daily expenses to keep the museum operating, reports The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The complaint against Terry Gaouette, the museum’s former chief financial officer, does not allege that he took any money for himself. Instead, it claims he falsified financial documents and transferred $3.8-million from the museum’s endowment to its general operating budget without following proper legal steps.

Museum policy prohibits transferring more than 3 percent of the endowment to the museum each year, and at least one employee warned Mr. Gaouette that his activities were illegal.

Mr. Gaouette defended himself by saying that the museum board, which had no knowledge of his activities, repeatedly ignored warnings about the museum’s shaky finances. The museum recently had to cut almost 45 percent of its employees.