Oregon Weekly Paper Hit by Employee Embezzlement

The Eugene Weekly, a free newspaper published in Oregon, has been forced to cease publication after an employee was found to have embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the company. Editor Camilla Mortensen told the New York Times that the paper discovered the fraud just before Christmas, with an ex-employee having paid themselves $90,000 from the company account and at least $100,000 in unpaid bills. The paper also discovered that money meant for employees' retirement accounts had not been paid in. With the company's finances left in ruins, the Weekly was forced to make all of its staff redundant and cease printing, having printed 30,000 copies each week for over 40 years. The police are investigating the fraud and the paper's owners have hired forensic accountants. The paper has started a GoFundMe page which has raised over $35k.