Former Millbrook First Nation employee charged in alleged $4M fraud

A Bible Hill, N.S., woman is facing several charges in connection with an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud by a former employee of Millbrook First Nation.

Dawn Ellis-Abbott, 42, has been charged with fraud over $5,000, theft over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

RCMP say they received a report from the chief and council of Millbrook First Nation in December 2019 of a possible fraud by a former employee. At the time, the fraud was believed to have been more than $1 million.

The RCMP's commercial crime section and digital forensics services investigated, along with the forensic accounting management group of Public Services and Procurement Canada.

They determined that Ellis-Abbott allegedly stole or misappropriated over $4 million over a four-year period between January 2016 and December 2019.

Band statement

In a statement on the band's Facebook page, Chief Bob Gloade acknowledged the "theft of funds that rightfully belong to our community."

"We are pleased to see that steps are being taken towards a resolution and that Ms. Ellis-Abbott will be held responsible. Our community remains committed to ensuring that justice is served and that the appropriate measures are taken to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future."

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall said the scope of the alleged fraud is unusual in Nova Scotia.

"It's certainly something that doesn't happen frequently — not to this magnitude, anyway," he said. "Obviously, there are a lot of frauds where you're talking hundreds or sometimes thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars, but into the millions of dollars is certainly not something that we see very frequently."

Marshall said an investigation that involved witness statements, judicial authorization to obtain banking records and forensic audits took a lot of time to complete.

"We ultimately have to be able to track down not just the money was stolen," he said, "but where did it go, and try to get a full accounting of exactly what happened."

Ellis-Abbott was arrested on March 17 and was later released on conditions. 

She is scheduled to appear in Truro provincial court on May 24.