CCU is hiding investigation of failed donor. Could FL college been spared embarrassment?

Public records released by Florida A&M University following a historic $237 million donation announcement have revealed numerous red flags officials now admit they overlooked.

While potentially embarrassing for the university, these widely reported revelations will likely prevent other colleges from making similar mistakes when future donors come calling. And a third-party investigation in progress is expected to reveal even more about FAMU’s dealings with Gregory Gerami, the Texas hemp farmer whose generous gift has been heavily scrutinized and raised questions about whether Gerami’s donation is legitimate.

Coastal Carolina University had a similar opportunity to shine light on its own failed relationship with Gerami in 2020 — a gesture that might have prevented FAMU from accepting his gift. CCU officials have consistently fought to hide the details of their interactions with Gerami, including any mistakes. Instead, university officials have gone to court to keep their relationship with Gerami secret and heavily redacted or outright refused to release records. CCU even has refused to publicly acknowledge Gerami by name.

CCU officials have refused to comment on the donation beyond what was included in press releases, and former employees within the school’s fundraising arm who were involved have declined interview requests. One former employee cited a nondisclosure agreement she signed as the reason.

Records the university are trying to keep hidden include the results of an internal investigation conducted by the university’s public safety department that preceded CCU’s decision to cut ties with Gerami.

“One perspective is Coastal Carolina is embarrassed,” said Jay Bender, longtime SC Press Association attorney and a University of South Carolina media law professor. “... I don’t blame them for wanting to keep it secret, but that’s not the way the government is supposed to operate.”

The Sun News has been involved in litigation with CCU since Nov. 2023 in an effort to obtain these records and determine what CCU knew when. Both parties recently jointly petitioned the court to set a date for a hearing.

CCU obscures relationship with Gerami as anonymous donor

Years before Gerami appeared at FAMU’s graduation ceremony announcing a gift that would be the largest ever given to a historically Black college or university, CCU announced on July 27, 2020 that it had secured a $95 million planned gift from an anonymous donor.

That deal fell apart less than four months later when CCU announced Nov. 3, 2020 that it was terminating its relationship with that donor, who would remain anonymous, because he had failed to fulfill an “early expectation” of their agreement.

The Sun News began filing Freedom of Information Act requests last year with CCU to determine why the donation fell through so quickly. But the university refused to provide any gift agreement, stating that it was in the possession of the Coastal Educational Foundation, a nonprofit fundraising affiliate not subject to open records laws.

Gerami’s agreement with Florida A&M was similarly directed to the nonprofit FAMU Foundation. But that agreement was provided to media outlets who requested it.

CCU did provide hundreds of internal emails that provided a glimpse into the anonymous donor relationship, but it redacted the donor’s name and any potential identifying information, citing an exemption in South Carolina law that allowed it to withhold “information relative to the identity of the maker of a gift to a public body” if that gift maker specifies the gift is contingent on them remaining anonymous.

When asked to reconsider and questioned how this exemption could be cited since no gift was ultimately made, CCU responded that “while the relationship with that donor ended prior to the fulfillment of the terms of any gift agreement, it is the university’s position that this exemption continues to apply to the identification of the maker in an anonymous gift agreement.”

The Sun News was able to identify Gerami as the anonymous donor through other means, and Gerami reluctantly admitted he was the donor after multiple conversations with the newspaper, initially asking to remain anonymous and then saying he was part of a team representing a different donor.

The emails included a timeline of the university’s interactions with Gerami, showing university officials were consistently skeptical of his net worth. But they spoke with others whose titles included investment advisor, financial advisor and attorney who led them to believe Gerami was worth about $600 million.

CCU redacted Gerami’s name from the timeline as well as others who appeared to vouch for his wealth, again citing the anonymous gift maker exemption. FAMU, by contrast, provided communications from Raymond James Financial Services that showed the bank had verified the value of assets in Gerami’s account before revoking those assurances weeks before the university announced his donation.

The CCU timeline also revealed that, separate from the $95 million planned gift, Gerami and university officials signed a gift agreement during May 2020 for $464 million. They decided only to mention the planned gift in their July 2020 press release “in order to reduce risk to the university,” the timeline states.

Internal emails show then-CCU President David DeCenzo wanting to be careful about the language within the press release “if he doesn’t follow (through)” and wanting to avoid public scrutiny.

“Jerry, here’s my concern. This says the commitment has been made which means an agreement exists which then gets FOIA’d,” DeCenzo wrote in a June 2020 email to communications director Jerry Rashid. “That’s one thing we all wanted to avoid.”

CCU conducted its own investigation

The CCU timeline was put together as part of an internal investigation led by Kenneth “Tad” Reed, then-captain of the university’s public safety department, internal emails show.

Lynn Fox, the director of research within CCU’s philanthropy office at the time, confirmed to The Sun News that she and others within the office were interviewed as part of the investigation. She declined to talk about the anonymous donor situation, citing a nondisclosure agreement she signed.

Fox and others within the philanthropy office — now called the Office for Advancement — were let go around the time the deal with Gerami collapsed. A CCU spokesman has told The Sun News that turnover was in response to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Similar to the situation at FAMU, CCU officials appeared to become weary of Gerami quickly after the donation was announced. Bryan Steros, the university’s interim vice president for philanthropy at the time, emailed DeCenzo a spreadsheet of expenses related to employee visits to Gerami in Texas and Alabama and Gerami’s visit to CCU “for the investigation” on Aug. 1, 2020, less than a week after the press release announcing the planned gift was distributed.

The Sun News’ requests for those expense reports and any report compiled as the result of CCU’s internal investigation were fully denied.

As part of its litigation with CCU, The Sun News is requesting a judge rule the university has violated the S.C. Freedom of Information Act and order that it provide and remove redactions from the requested records.

Without knowing what the internal investigation uncovered, it’s unclear whether the university’s findings would have prevented FAMU from announcing its own multi-million dollar gift from Gerami. Gerami has admitted that The Sun News’ June 2023 story linking him to CCU has made other colleges skeptical of him.

“One of the advantages of making information public is it allows others to avoid the same problems,” Bender said.

FAMU officials have admitted they never contacted anyone from CCU. Despite previously admitting to The Sun News he was the anonymous donor, Gerami has since refused to acknowledge that fact to other media outlets, which have reported CCU is also refusing to identify the donor.