From Guadalajara, Mexico, with love
On a recent training (on occupational frauds and how to investigate them) expedition to Guadalajara, Mexico, we got an ear full from the two translators. Not but two weeks ago a National Conference for Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine were in the process of holding their annual convention. Doctors arrived from all over Mexico and Latin America to attend what all believed to be the premier conference of its kind in Latin America. It was to be their fourth annual conference. The first three were tremendous success and widely attended.
Many of the attendees arrived in Guadalajara and came to their designated hotels to check in. Not only were there no rooms, there were no prepaid reservations. The convention hall had opened to the exhibitors, but demanded that the agreed-upon deposit to be paid by the end of the day. Everyone there with the organization was assured by the treasurer, via telephone, that he had been delayed, but would be there soon. He never showed up, and, in fact, disappeared altogether.
The conference had been such a success in the previous years that the organization had been able to avoid paying any deposits with the exhibition
ÆGIS, January 2000 14hall. The Association only had to pay half of the hall rental fee the day the show and conference opened, and half the day the conference and exposition closed. The Association had also arranged for all of the expo participants to pay for their booths and conference advertising in advance. All of the attendees had been offered a tremendous deal if they paid their conference registration fees and booked a hotel room through the Association. But nothing was ever paid for by the Association. The treasurer of the Association ran off with the money and his wife’s younger sister.
It seems he had some issues to deal with….