ROCKLAND, Maine — The former head of a Camden-area charity, accused of stealing $3.8 million from the organization, has been given more time to respond to the civil lawsuit filed against him.
The extension was granted this week in Knox County Superior Court for Russell “Rusty” Brace. The Rockport resident will have until Jan. 18, 2015, to respond to the lawsuit.
His attorney Peter DeTroy stated in his request to the court that without the extension Brace would risk implicating himself in a parallel criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office.
No criminal charges have been filed against Brace, but federal investigations involving financial fraud can take a year or more to complete.
The court already has agreed to freeze Brace’s bank accounts and attach liens of up to $3.8 million on his properties in Camden, Rockport and Rangeley. The properties since have been put up for sale in an effort to resolve the claims against his client, DeTroy said earlier this month.
In the suit it filed in October, the Camden-based United Mid-Coast Charities Inc. contended that Brace embezzled $3.8 million from the organization from 2001 through August 2014 while he served as the board’s volunteer president.
The lawsuit alleges that Brace admitted on Sept. 25 to taking numerous, and sometimes large, checks earmarked for United Mid-Coast Charities and depositing them in his Brace Management Account at the First, NA.