Last week, ACORN founder Wade Rathke appeared in Washington, D.C., to promote his book. At the event, I asked Rathke about how his brother embezzled some $950,000 from the organization, and subsequently stayed on the payroll of the organization for the next eight years. All the while, Rathke and other top leaders at ACORN conspired to hide the embezzlement from ACORN’s board of directors — actions that lead to Rathke stepping down as Chief Organizer for ACORN last year when a whistle blower made the incident public. Well, it turns out the story could be much worse than it appears. The New Orleans Times-Picayune is now reporting a supoena from the Lousiana attorney general’s office reveals the amount embezzled is much higher than previously reported:

An internal review by the board of directors of the community organization ACORN determined that the amount allegedly embezzled from the community organization was $5 million, well more than the previously reported amount of nearly $1 million, according to a new subpoena in an investigation by Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.
The subpoena, released this afternoon, says, “It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds.”
ACORN Chief Executive Officer Bertha Lewis said the new accusation about the embezzlement is “completely false.” She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have a chance to review the subpoena.

Again, just last week, Rathke quibbled with me over the amount reported to be embezzled. “My brother misappropriated not your figure [the NYT reported figure of just under $950,000] — but it’s $985,000,” he told me. And Rathke also responded to my questions by doubling down and insisting that he was right to hide the embezzlement from the organization’s own board of directors so the information could not be used as a “weapon” in the hands of ACORN’s enemies. This is an incredibly dubious justification for the organization’s obdurate unwillingness to be internally, let alone publicly, accountable. If this report that the actual amount embezzled is over five times what the organization has previously reported turns out to be true, it’s safe to say that there’s still a cover-up going on and the organization’s current leadership is totally beyond redemption.

(Via Big Government, of course)