$7k Strip Club Bill Appears On School-Issued Credit Card Of Missouri University Employee
A $7k strip club bill has been discovered on the school-issued credit card of an employee at the University of Missouri athletics department.
Director of video operations Michael Schumacher was found to have racked up a $7k strip club bill while on a May 2011 visit to Las Vegas. Department spokesman Chad Moller confirmed Tuesday that Schumacher had since repaid the $7,605.50, which was charged at the Olympic Garden club in Vegas. The total came from two separate charges, one of which included a $2,000 tip on a $4,400 bill at the nightclub.
The $7k strip club bill was uncovered by a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit on August 14, a routine and periodic review of university business functions. The university has since announced it is clamping down on employee use of school-issued cards after other questionable purchases were revealed by the audit.
As well as the $7k strip club bill, auditors found nearly $3,000 in charges made by former men’s basketball director of operations Jeff Daniels. Daniels, who now earns a crust at Arkansas under former Tigers coach Mike Anderson, charged his school credit card twice at the Vince Young Steakhouse in Austin, Texas in January 2011. Both charges were for $1,489.54, meaning the total was well above the $2,500 transaction limit.
According to Moller, Daniels’ charges were for a team meal for approximately 30 people including coaches, team members, and support staff. That works out at an average dinner cost of nearly $100 per person.
But it is Schumacher’s dubious use of his credit card that will attract more attention. The $7k strip club bill has led to what Moller described as “responsive and appropriate disciplinary action.”
Many of the other 85 purchases singled out by auditors were for far smaller amounts and covered everything from three-ring notebooks to Federal Express invoices. There was also a $77.83 purchase of flowers for athletic director Mike Alden. Moller stated that all personal purchases made by employees on university purchasing cards had been repaid:
“We’re very happy with the results of the audit. Keep in mind that during the time period of the review, athletics had close to 14,000 (purchasing) card purchases. (The flagged charges) represents a very small percentage.”
The university has canceled 32 credit cards out of the 120 that had been issued to athletics employees before the audit.
