Tyler Grandil, a former Arizona Association FFA executive secretary, was indicted this week by a grand jury on counts of fraud and computer tampering in connection to a scheme including more than $1.7 million of FFA funding.
A former employee of the Arizona Department of Education, Grandil now serves as the executive director for one of Southwest’s largest livestock shows. After an internal investigation was conducted by the Arizona Department of Education, Grandil’s employment was terminated in December 2015.
Grandil is accused of funneling over $1.7 million into his own bank accounts to fund private endeavors. According to the report by the Arizona auditor general, discrepancies were discovered during internal audits between March 2011 and December 2015 at the Department of Education.
The Arizona Association FFA where Grandil worked is a separate entity from the nonprofit Arizona Agricultural Education/FFA Foundation, which has separate financial accounting and formal processes.
As part of their responsibility to detect fraud, the Arizona Department of Education reported the alleged financial misconduct by Grandil to the Arizona auditor general.
According to the auditor general, Grandil is accused of altering Department accounting records to conceal his actions. However, “Because monies were commingled and certain records were not available, we were unable to determine how much of this money was used for AZFFA purposes,” reads the report.
The FFA Foundation is also conducting an internal review of the funds provided to the Arizona Association FFA for the time frame of 2011 to 2015, the organization said in a statement
Altogether, Grandil is accused of issuing 28 checks totaling $40,950 to himself, family members, and other companies. The audit report was submitted to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office on May 31, 2023.
Grandil began working part-time at the department in July 1994 as an FFA consultant, later becoming the Arizona Association FFA executive secretary in June 2000. In this position, Grandil was responsible for day-to-day operations and managed financiers of the AZFFA. Grandil was responsible for depositing the AZFFA revenues, such as student and chapter membership dues and conference registrations into an AZFFA Department checking account and recording the revenue in the Department’s accounting software.
Grandil was responsible for submitting check request forms and supporting documentation to his supervisors for approval, and Department accounting employees issued checks in the Department’s accounting software. Monthly financial reports were then provided to the AZFFA advisory board.
According to reports, Grandil is accused of opening a “secret” checking account in March 2011 without the department or the AZFFA’s knowledge. The account was named “Arizona Association FFA”, but he was the only signer on that account.
Documents also indicate that Grandil admitted to using five personal credit cards for the AZFFA and personal purposes, comingling person monies used for payments and AZFFA money, and failing to keep a separate account. So far, reports indicate that auditors were unable to determine how much of $1,591,749 was spent on paying credit card balances for AZFFA or personal purposes.
In 2017, responsibility for managing the AZFFA, including its finances, shifted from the department to the AZFFA advisory board.
Grandil isn’t the only one on the hot seat. Former department officials reportedly allowed him to be the direct recipient of all AZFFA revenue, make deposits into the department’s AZFFA checking account, and handle all recording of funds.
“Had officials separated responsibilities for receiving, depositing, and recording AZFFA monies, or routinely generated audit trail reports from the accounting software, they would have prevented or soon detected Mr. Grandil’s manipulations,” reads the report.
The AZFFA checking account has been closed, and department employees now serve an advisory and assistive capacity to AZFFA.
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