Update: On March 7 the APRE filed a notice of voluntary dismissal, and on March 13 the judge dismissed the case “with prejudice,” which means permanently. APRE officials did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Shane Toven told Radio World, “I’m still pleased with the outcome, that we’ve been able to resolve the matter, and that the original case and allegations have been dismissed.” He declined further comment.
Shane Toven and the Association of Public Radio Engineers have reached a settlement of APRE’s recent lawsuit, with Toven sharing public comments for the first time.
In a court filing, the APRE has asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California to approve a voluntary agreement under which Toven, the association’s former treasurer, accepts a judgement against him and will pay $108,467.62 in damages and $24,119.51 in interest. The documents were filed Feb. 6.
As you may recall, we reported in December that APRE had sued Toven, alleging that he misappropriated money during his tenure. It said Toven had used money from the trade group for his own personal use. This week, Toven confirmed that he has agreed to settle with APRE and will be paying back the full, requested amount with interest.
“It’s the right thing to do, and was my intention from the moment I discovered the true extent and cause of the error,” he told Radio World.
On Feb. 15, Toven shared the following comments with Radio World to address the original allegations from APRE, and to explain what happened:
“When I first became fully aware of the extent of the issue, I initially suspected a case of identity theft. After further investigation, I discovered the issue was primarily due to an error in setting up an automatic payment. I was horrified. There was never any intentional wrong doing, but this error had compounded over time due to inattention and miscommunication between myself and APRE, along with a pandemic, my starting a new position and uprooting from Wyoming to California.
“The fact that my personal and previous business banking accounts were at the same bank as APRE’s also led to this error. Regardless, it was an inexcusable error, and I offer my deepest apologies to APRE, its members, and sponsors.”
Further details of the proposed settlement are subject to a confidentiality agreement, per the court record. The filings do not give details about how or why a settlement was reached, nor do they provide comments about it from either party.
APRE and Toven, the filings state, agreed to a “final and complete settlement.”
“The terms of the actual agreement with APRE are confidential, but I’m glad that we’ve been able to come to an amicable resolution outside of litigation,” said Toven in his comments.
Radio World has requested comment from APRE and will report any reply.
Until recently, Toven was the senior broadcast engineer at Educational Media Foundation and its K-Love and Air1 Networks.
He told Radio World that he resigned from his position with EMF on Monday “to pursue a new opportunity.” He said EMF had already given his position an end date of July due to the fact that he was not able to relocate to Tennessee.
Toven is known from frequent appearances at industry trade shows and panels; he has written articles in Radio World and was editor of Radio magazine in 2014-15. He was APRE treasurer for several years.
Background
APRE told the court that in December 2022 it had discovered small but personal charges to its checking account by Toven for the period 2018 to 2022. “APRE made inquiries to Toven about the purchases and Toven did not respond,” it wrote in its suit. The board discussed the matter in January 2023, after which its president again attempted to contact him about the expenditures without success.
“Shortly thereafter, [the] vice president of the board of APRE reviewed the bank statements from APRE’s checking account at Wells Fargo for several years prior. At that point, in early 2023, APRE learned that Toven had been misappropriating substantial sums of money from APRE’s checking account going all the way back to 2018.” It said these included “numerous four-figure payments from APRE’s checking account to Toven’s American Express card to satisfy Toven’s credit card debts with American Express.”
It said it also sent Toven two letters, asking for an explanation and informing him that APRE intended to pursue legal action, and that he did not respond.
APRE is a nonprofit that “exists to advance preserve the mission of public radio stations through education, outreach, regulatory support and the ongoing development and preservation of best engineering practices,” according to its website.
[Related: “APRE Elects New President, Officers“]
