Former medical lobby staffer sentenced for embezzling

<p>The former bookkeeper of one of Georgia's most powerful lobbying groups was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison for embezzling more than $140,000 meant for a lobbying campaign.</p><p>Stephanie Verden, a 50-year-old former Medical Association of Georgia staffer, pleaded guilty to 20 counts of bank fraud after funds were found to be missing from bank accounts in March 2005.</p><p>Verden's attorney told the court she took the money to pay medical bills for her ailing husband.</p><p>Her crime raised concerns among some MAG members who say the embezzlement and other accounting woes have put the group's financial credibility at risk. A few have called for a change in leadership.</p><p>The Federal Elections Commission has questioned the finances of MAG's political action committee, including more than $660,000 left in an account slated to be closed. Another accounting flaw prompted the group to restate its finances dating to 2001 to the Georgia Ethics Commission, records show.</p><p>MAG Executive Director David Cook has said he won't step down, arguing that the financial questions have been investigated and that the group's members are ready to move forward.</p><p>Verden's attorney, Seth Kirschenbaum, said his client started stealing the money when her family was swept up in a "financial tsunami." Verden's husband lost his job after contracting MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and she needed help paying medical bills, he said.</p><p>"She's never denied she's committed this crime," said Kirschenbaum. "All we've tried to do is explain the circumstances that led to it."</p><p>Federal prosecutors pushed for a tougher sentence, arguing that Verden abused MAG's trust.</p><p>"Ms. Verden was one of only two people in the accounting department, one of only 23 people in the office," said prosecutor Laura Millendorf. "This is a mom-and-pop nonprofit."</p><p>Kirschenbaum told U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester that Verden was a low-paid staffer with no authority.</p><p>"Ms. Verden was a mere bookkeeper, a clerk, who at $30,000 a year supervised no one but was supervised by everyone," he said.</p><p>An influential coalition of physicians, MAG was key in lobbying last year for the passage of legislation that makes it more difficult to win big awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, and counts a number of powerful elected officials as its allies.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc420)</p>