Couple Staged Half Million Dollar Fraud Against Theater Nonprofit, Insurer Claims

Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. is suing a Connecticut couple the insurer alleges defrauded its insured, a Florida theater nonprofit, by using the organization’s checking and credit card accounts for more than a half million dollars in unauthorized personal expenditures over a decade.

According to the insurer’s complaint filed in federal court in Connecticut, Lindsay Warfield spent $587,669.58 of the Educational Theatre Association’s money for her own personal benefit and the benefit of her husband, Randall Adkison.

From October 10, 2013 through March 18, 2023, Warfield was chapter director of Florida State Thespian Society, an affiliate of Educational Theatre Association, which was insured under a policy from Philadelphia Insurance. As state chapter director, Warfield had access to the association’s bank accounts and checkbook and had the authority to approve credit card payments for the business. The Society has troupes in schools around the state and an annual festival in Tampa, its website shows.

Warfield’s non-business expenditures allegedly included payments for groceries, clothing, furniture, airline tickets, and beauty salon, custom auto and veterinarian services, as well as payments to vendors including Airbnb, Universal Studios, Sea World, Disney, Broadway, and various museums and movie theaters.

According to the complaint, the couple moved to Connecticut from Florida shortly before the board of the Educational Theatre Association in March 2023 uncovered the alleged misappropriation of funds and suspended Warfield.

Philadelphia Insurance’s complaint further alleges that after the fraud was uncovered by the nonprofit’s board, Adkison, who was an assistant director with the Florida chapter, deleted all festival registration data prior to 2023.

According to the complaint, when she was asked about the charges, Warfield admitted to misappropriating monies for personal use such as Airbnb stays and Wayfair expenses. Warfield allegedly explained she “kept her business credit cards in the same electronic wallet on her phone and that she sometimes used the business credit cards for personal items by mistake.”

Philadelphia claims that Warfield stated her intention to reimburse the monies that she misappropriated but she has not done so.

Philadelphia Insurance paid the association’s $587,669.58 claim and is now seeking repayment along with interest, punitive damages, costs, attorney fees, and other relief for claims including fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment and negligence.

The Educational Theatre Association is a professional association for theatre educators. It has 45 affiliate chapters, including the one in Florida.