Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has revealed a shocker of a suspected fraudulent activity. This disturbing trend has resulted in a loss of more than $3 million in less than a year. During the society’s Annual General Meeting, they announced these troubling allegations. This has alarmed advocates, reproductive health professionals, and lawmakers alike, to the point that even Australia’s Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has questioned the efficacy of self-regulation in the IVF industry.
A trusted but external contractor suddenly is discovered to have been embezzling. From 2018 to 2023, they introduced funds into a personal checking account, masking the transactions as “supplier bills.” The society’s most recent financial report stated that legal counsel was actively being pursued to recover the $3,122,731 in funds from the former employee. Former City Councilmember Petra Wale spearheaded the successful effort to identify the lost money. She had just ascended to the presidency in late March 2020 — only three months before the revelation.
Allegations Uncovered at Annual Meeting
Top IVF doctors, scientists and researchers converged for the Annual General Meeting. This event quickly turned into the space for revealing these hefty accusations. The timing of this disclosure is immediately suspect and raises serious concerns. It follows by only days the news that Australia’s health ministers are planning to talk about the self-regulation of the IVF sector. Mark Butler’s comments indicate a new nervousness about the old regulatory paradigm.
“Self-regulation isn’t working.” – Federal Health Minister Mark Butler
While welcome overall, these findings have nonetheless called into question the adequacy of internal controls at FSANZ. Chris Douglas, financial crime consultant and former Australian Federal Police officer, was equally damning. He cautioned that if the allegations are true, they may indicate grave deficiencies in the organization’s governance structure and oversight practices.
“If true, the amount involved and period of alleged offending call into question the quality of the internal controls at the Fertility Society.” – Chris Douglas
The Role of Leadership in Addressing Fraud
Petra Wale has only been president for a few months. She needs to focus on and address this difficult truth. In response to Congressional inquiries, FSANZ has promised stakeholders that it remains dedicated to fixing the underlying problems. The American Academy of Actuaries made an important point in its testimony — after decades of financial mismatch, the society has never been in danger of insolvency.
“At no time has FSANZ been at any risk of insolvency.” – FSANZ statement
The society’s leadership is looking ahead to legal action against the government’s former contractor on the case. Our lawyers are in hot pursuit of a discovery demand. They are requesting credit card and bank statements going back as far as 2005 to provide further detail on the transactions.
“As we are in the process of taking legal action, we cannot comment further.” – FSANZ statement
Implications for the Fertility Sector
The impact of this alleged fraud goes far beyond the millions in dollars lost. The Utah couple saga brings to the fore critical questions of trust and accountability for the regulated fertility industry. Patients trust these organizations with their health and wellbeing, and even a single breach of that trust can have long-term consequences.
In their response, FSANZ reiterated their commitment to ongoing support for the fertility sector and ensuring appropriate standards of care are provided to patients. As the inquiry proceeds, all stakeholders will be looking to see how this develops. They would like to see how leadership takes these grave concerns and puts them into practice to stop anything like this from ever happening again.
