June 5, 2018

Media Contact: (828) 767-3226

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Buncombe County Commissioners Respond to Additional Federal Charges
Leveled at Former County Manager, Wanda Greene regarding Life Insurance
Fraud and Announce that a Civil Lawsuit will be Filed Against Wanda Greene and
Michael Greene

Buncombe County is aggressively pursuing all legal recourse to recover public funds
including filing a civil lawsuit against Wanda Greene and Michael Greene and
seeking restitution for all losses caused by the actions of Wanda Greene, her son
Michael Greene, as well as any other persons or entities that have participated in or
profited from the unlawful actions of Wanda Greene and Michael Greene.

Prior to the announcement of a new Federal Indictment in the Wanda Greene

investigation, Buncombe County had been requested by federal investigators not to
take any action that might impede the investigation. Buncombe County is now able
to share the following information.

From this investigation, it was determined that an unknown number of whole life
policies were purchased for known and unknown current and former County
employees. Dr. Greene, an experienced CPA and trained internal auditor, structured
the use of public funds and payments so there was no master list of recipients. It
has taken the last ten months of external and internal investigation to uncover the
details regarding what was purchased and the amount of public funds involved.

Based on the information uncovered so far, the following has been determined:
• Greene used an appropriation within an unrelated budget amendment,
placed on the consent agenda, to fund the purchase of these policies making
it difficult for others to detect her actions;
• The Board of Commissioners never approved this appropriation or the
purchase of these policies;
 • Greene represented to these current or former County employees that the
Board had approved the purchase of these policies for specific employees as
an approved deferred compensation;
• Greene caused $2,310,000 to be sent to a life insurance provider through a
series of wire transfers in order to fund the purchase of insurance policies
and an annuity.

NC General Statues §153A-92 does allow for life insurance to be purchased for an
individual or class of employees, however, a public vote by the Commissioners is
required. The employees receiving policies were advised by Dr. Greene that these
policies were approved by Commissioners and lawful under NC law.

None of these County employees had any knowledge or access to information that
would have informed them that these policies were not approved nor of the actual
cost involved. It is believed that Dr. Greene misled them as a vehicle for her own
financial gain and that of her son.

Upon learning that statutory requirements to create a specific class of employees

eligible for a benefit were not followed and that the Board did not formally approve
any appropriation for the purchase of policies, all employees, except Dr. Greene and
her son, Michael Greene, proactively came forward and assigned the policies to
Buncombe County. These employees are: Michael Frue; Mandy Stone; Tim Flora;
Diane Price; Matt Stone; Greg Isreal; Jon Creighton; Pat Freeman; and Jerry VeHaun.
None of these County employees received any financial benefit from this product.
Additionally, upon learning that the appropriations were not approved by the Board
of Commissioners, the insurance provider has thus far cooperated fully with
Buncombe County to recover funds used to purchase the policies assigned to
Buncombe County by the aforementioned employees.

Shortly after the effective date of her retirement, Wanda Greene cashed in the
policies issued in her name which cost $458,437.59.

Two policies remain outstanding in the name of Michael Greene which cost
$143,381.05.

If proven true, this will be another example of Wanda Greene misleading the Board
of Commissioners, a number of current and former county employees, and County
taxpayers, with the goal to use public funds for her personal benefit while involving
other County employees in an attempt to hide her actions.

This internal investigation further revealed that the wire transfers were processed
without proper supporting documentation. In this case, Dr. Greene instructed
Budget and Finance staff to wire the funds. This is a system weakness that has been
addressed and corrected.

As early as the time that County staff originally identified financial irregularities and
contacted law enforcement the Board of Commissioners instructed staff to make
every effort to recover all funds misappropriated due to Wanda Greene's actions.
Senior Staff Attorney has been consulting with outside insurance and bond
attorneys since July 2017 in an effort to recover these funds.

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