South Carolina officials have discovered a bank account belonging to the state containing a whopping $1.8 billion — but no one seems to know why or how it got there.
According to State Sen. Larry Grooms (R), who is leading an investigatory senate panel into the issue, the massive stockpile had been “swept under the rug for years.”
“It’s like going into your bank and the bank president tells you we have a lot of money in our vault but we just don’t know who it belongs to,” he said to the South Carolina Daily Gazette.
CBS News reports that the $1.8 billion discovery comes soon after former Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom (R) stepped down last year after his agency “started double posting money in higher education accounts, leading to a $3.5 billion error that was all on paper.”
State Sen. Larry Grooms (R-Bonneau) speaks about a bill on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, in Columbia. SC. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
“This is one of the things that was swept under the rug for years,” Grooms said of the newfound cash, which made nearly $200 million in interest for the state after being invested by Treasurer Curtis Loftis (R).
Loftis has faced backlash for investing the mystery money without notifying the General Assembly that it existed, but he said that was not part of his job.
New Comptroller General Brian Gaines (D) is allegedly “attempting to shift responsibility to clean up its mess to the Treasurer,” Loftis complained in a March 14 letter to Grooms.
Loftis also said that it would be impossible to provide answers on what exactly happened in just a matter of weeks.
The treasurer has also taken to social media to complain about the heavy workload placed on his office to investigate what happened, asking his Facebook followers to “pray for my staff as they are working tremendous hours due to this situation.”
While a team of internal and external accountants reviews the evidence, state senators reportedly believe that “every time the state’s books were out of whack, money was shifted from somewhere into an account that helped balance it out,” according to CBS.
“It does not inspire confidence. But the good news is no money was lost,” said Gov. Henry McMaster (R).
The governor added that there is no rush to dive into the account just yet.
“That’s a lot of money and there is no need to hurry up and try to spend it,” he said.
