By DANIEL HERATY
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – A Crestwood School District Board of Education member is being sued for embezzlement in a civil case in Oakland County Circuit Court.
Janey Golani, a board member since 2002, is being sued by a former employer. Her husband, Atour, also is named as a defendant. Criminal charges have not been filed.
Golani is alleged to have taken over $700,000 from International Outdoor Inc. and Transit Advertising Group, where she worked as an office manager from 2005 to 2009. The suit alleges she used the money for renovations on a second home and payments on college tuition.
The complaint, filed in October 2009, said she has paid back $50,000.
The lawsuit claims that Golani took checks made out to International Outdoor and Transit Advertising, created a bank account in the companies’ names and kept the money by having the checks sent to her home. The suit also alleges that she destroyed documents.
“Defendant Janey Golani destroyed or caused to be destroyed company records, including but not limited to, client contracts, deposit slips and computerized accounting records,” the complaint says. “She also altered accounting records so they did not reflect the true state of affairs.”
Calls to board President Donna Ancinec and Supt. Laurine VanValkenburg seeking comment for this story were not returned by press time.
The Crestwood School District encompasses the northern portion of Dearborn Heights.