a. The embezzler is a "low level" clerk. Did she have responsibility for issuing checks? What difference does it make whether or not she had responsibility?
b. Did Nichols commit single or double forgeries?
c. Does it matter if the bank was negligent?
d. Was the bank negligent?
e. Was the university negligent?
f. What could Santa Cruz have done to prevent this large loss?
Mary Anne Nichols, a low-level clerk, embezzled almost $500,000 from the Student Services Division of the University of California at Santa Cruz. She wrote 202 checks to imaginary speakers for conducting non-existent workshops and then forged indorsements before depositing the checks in her own bank account. A teller at her bank finally noticed that the clerk had deposited eight university checks in a 10-day period. The Student Services Division had never been audited and had no budget or accounting oversight.