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Former Chamber VP, CFO Tammy Hall accepts plea agreement on wire fraud charges; damages estimated between $250K-$594K
RACHEL TOWNSEND
Managing Editor
Former Chamber Vice President and Chief Finance Officer Tammy Hall, who was terminated in January of 2023 following allegations of money laundering, will now face the courts for sentencing on three counts of wire fraud with damages estimated between $250K-$594,325.
Hall recently pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and will appear in U.S. District Court in Jackson, TN on December 20 at 9 a.m. The case will go before U.S. District Judge Thomas Anderson. While an initial investigation revealed over $100K in questionable transactions, further investigation revealed hundreds of thousands of dollars more.
The case was handed over to the FBI in the spring of 2023, at which time forensic auditor Robert Vance was brought in to evaluate finances. Chamber Treasurer Joe Enoch has worked alongside investigators since the investigation first began on December 30, 2022.
Noted in the plea agreement, the investigation dates back to 2015 financial records indicating that Hall “began using Chamber of Commerce funds to forge checks to herself.”
The plea further states Hall used “funds from three accounts owned by the Chamber of Commerce to pay herself, her student loans, and her and her family’s vehicle loans.”
The plea states Hall continued this behavior until her suspension in 2022. As noted in the plea, Hall has agreed to pay restitution to be determined by the court during sentencing.
Following an interview with Enoch regarding the findings of the investigation, he issued the following statement:
“The culmination of several month’s work in the case involving The Dyersburg/Dyer County Chamber of Commerce, the Foundation of the Chamber (Chamber/Foundation), and Tammy Hall, former Vice President of Finance and Administration has resulted in a Plea Agreement. This agreement was entered in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee and stipulated three Counts in a fraud scheme to defraud the Chamber and the Foundation. The fraud scheme began in or around 2015 and continued until December of 2022 when the discovery of the fraud scheme occurred. Upon discovery, a thorough internal investigation was performed to determine the extent of the loss.
“After an initial investigation, the Chamber/Foundation employed a forensic accountant. His conclusion was that the internal investigation supported the fact that Ms. Hall had transferred funds from the Chamber/Foundation for her own benefit. The internal investigation continued with additional fraudulent transactions discovered.
“The Chamber notified local law enforcement who in turn asked for assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The result of the internal investigation was turned over to the FBI. Further collaborative information was obtained by the FBI from subpoenas. After the FBI reached the conclusion regarding the loss, the case was presented to the Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee…The impact of the fraud scheme on the Chamber/Foundation can be stated in dollars and cents. The impact on our community goes way beyond the dollars and cents.
“The loss of the funds hampered the Chamber and the Foundation in their ability to perform their tasks related to industrial recruitment and economic development. The impact on the Chamber staff morale was disastrous as a trusted colleague had violated their trust and friendships. Luckily the Chamber staff has persevered and tackled projects that are hoped to make permanent improvements to our community.”
Chamber Board of Directors Chair John Tucker expressed his appreciation to the community for its continued support and the Chamber staff for its dedicated work to continue improving the community throughout this difficult time.
“The immediate impact of a situation like this shakes the confidence of the stakeholders including the staff and the local community that has been so supportive of the Chamber through the years,” stated Tucker. “This has been a slow process to get to this point and a distraction to the work the Chamber does on a daily basis. I appreciate the support we continue to receive from the community as we get closer to putting this unfortunate matter behind us.”
Despite the turn of events, Chamber President Slater Barr says the Board of Directors and staff are ready to move forward with the work ahead.
"Of course, we felt the impact financially,” said Barr, “but we also felt it programmatically, as we were constrained in our ability to carry out initiatives to grow our community. As employees, it was a personal gut punch for us all. We're ready to move on and be about the business of improving Dyer County."