Deliberations underway in Dan Doyle embezzlement trial

November 28, 2016 6:33 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

rturco@abc6.com

@RTurcoABC6

WAKEFIELD, R.I. – After a two month-long embezzlement trial, Dan Doyle’s fate is now in the hands of a jury.

Doyle is accused of stealing more than a million dollars – including hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding and philanthropists’ donations – from the Institute for International Sport, a nonprofit at URI that Doyle founded in the late 80s.

"Dan Doyle had total control of the institute and was using it as his private piggy bank," Assistant Attorney J. Patrick Youngs said in his closing argument.

Prosecutors say, among other things, Doyle forged checks to himself beginning in 2007 and used money from the institute to pay off his personal credit card.

Years later, he penned letters pretending to be members of a virtually non-existent board of directors, to try to get investigators off his track, prosecutors allege.

"There’s only one person to blame and he’s sitting right there," said Youngs, pointing at Doyle. "He birthed it and he killed it."

Doyle’s attorneys argue that’s not the case, saying his financial statement don’t show fraud, and neither does a lack of written minutes for board meetings.

"You may not like some of the things that he did," explained Attorney Michael Blanchard. "The question is not whether you like him for what he did. The question is whether or not they conduct is criminal."

Blanchard is arguing it’s not: "The State is asking you to set precedent by trying civil remedies as a criminal prosecution. I’m suggesting that’s a dangerous precedent to set."

Throughout the trial, jurors heard from more than 60 witnesses and saw nearly 400 exhibits.