The former Managing Director of the Greater Jackson Arts Council accused the organization of firing him after he reported Executive Director mismanaged over $500,000 in a lawsuit filed today in Rankin County Circuit Court.
Jon Salem worked at the Council since 1994. His last position was Managing Director, second in the organization to only Executive Director, Silbrina Wright. Ms. Wright became Executive Director in January 2021.The complaint accuses Ms. Wright of mismanaging over $500,000 in Council resources. The complaint alleges:
14. Specifically, Plaintiff inquired about the new charges on the July 2022 American Express Gold Card exceeding $120,000.00 and contrasted the average monthly carryover balance of $35,000.00, ultimately resulting in approximately $247,000.00 in unprecedented charges over a period of ten months.
15. Plaintiff further questioned the use of Surdna Foundation grant funds to cover unrelated grant expenses and questionable expenses on the American Express Gold Card such as an unsanctioned trip to Walt Disney World in Florida that cost in excess of $110,000.00 and was intended to be recouped with Jackson Public Schools Funds. This inquiry also included a request for justification for GJAC covering travel expenses for Silbrina Wright's immediate and extended family members. Plaintiff was aware that because the $400,000.00 in Surdna Foundation funds were earmarked for the City of Jackson who has named GJAC as the managing agent for the grant, any improper use of these funds would jeopardize any further allocation of the same to the City of Jackson.
However, the alleged misuse of Council coin was not limited to living high on the hog. The complaint charges the Executive Director also operated a friends and family program:
16. Plaintiff was also reprimanded by Silbrina Wright for questioning her remittance of payment to CWP Consulting as an independent contractor in the absence of any finished work product and questioning her retention of family members, her and her "God-Dad"/pastor, and "business partners" as employees and independent contractors with limited oversight and accountability. Several of these independent contractors were misclassified and should have been subject to state employment truces and unemployment protection, which setup a trend of significant true avoidance with the Mississippi Department of Employment Security.
CWP Consulting is an Oxford, MS company. John Brown, III and Jane Garvin are the members of the LLC.
Predictably, Mr. Salem's boss did not appreciate his investigative zeal and "began to systematically reduce" his access to the Council's financial information and began to reassign his duties. She allegedly suspended him on August 1, 2022 after he accused her of mismanaging Council funds. Ms. Wright fired the Managing Director on August 19.
The complaint charges the Greater Jackson Arts Council with wrongful termination. The plaintiff reported the Executive Director's alleged misconduct to the Council's Executive Committee but the Committee protected her and took no action. Ms. Wright allegedly retaliated by firing him even though he had whistleblower protection. The lawsuit also charges the defendants with tortious interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violating the whistleblower statute. The lawsuit asks for punitive damages and $200,000 in actual damages and back pay.
Attorney Scherrie Prince represents the plaintiff. The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Brad Mills.
90 comments:
Come on, this is how things are done in Jackson. Unless it hits eight figures it's a rounding error. It's not like she built a volleyball stadium.
https://aircollaborative.org/portfolio-items/silbrina-wright/
Get a load of this gobbledygook.
This is rich... From a 2021 article. She needs to be under the jail just like the DHS folks.
Board President-Elect Julian Miller... the attorney who will take the reins as president in October, says that under Wright’s guidance GJAC has the potential to become a prototype for similar organizations across the nation.
“She is transforming the organization to not only enhance the arts but to address social justice and to really look broadly at culture and how it can permeate every aspect of our lives in addressing justices,” he said. “I’m excited to be part of this work at this time. I don’t think there is anyone more qualified and capable for this time.”
Wright and the board are also revisiting and rewriting its mission statement to reflect the organization’s new direction.
“Silbrina is very excited about pairing the arts with advocacy, which I think is a unique yet important direction for us to take,” GJAC President Lori Hill-Marshall said in an interview. “That is going to be a big piece of what you see going forward.”
It’s always the pastors.
That’s why I sleep on Sunday morning.
Another Jackson organization rendered into a personal piggy bank. Must be systemic racism.
Ms Wright may have a tax problem. Hope she includes that income for family travel on her tax return.
This outfit appears to be every bit as useful as the Keep Jackson Beautiful group. It's impossible to tell from their websites what they do, other than employ staff thanks largely to taxpayers' generosity. Take a look at the opening statement on the arts council's website.
"GJAC is a socially grounded and engaged nonprofit that supports fostering healthy cultural ecosystems ... through activities and creative solutions that increase diversity, access and opportunities."
I could say the same thing about my morning bowel movement.
Even if i WAS enjoying life at a pig farm I'd have to come back just to smile at her crooked ass
Murphy
Jackson spends $500,000.00 on “Arts”. Why not divert that to streets, water, sewage, roads, security, etc? I would not risk my life to go downtown to see The Rolling Stones.
I don't know which is worse: that she would (allegedly) steal the money, or that she, an ARTS DIRECTOR would spend that money on a trip to Disney World. How did someone with such pedestrian taste, ascend to such a high position?
This must be some of that "equity" that the progressives bloviate, right?
She was just practicing to be a "wealth manager."
Where is state auditor?
I just hope that for the $110,000 Disney trip, her family got to go straight to the front of the ride lines.
Check out the shady as shit GJAC WEBSITE. No links to see staff, board, partners, past performance, or anything to see what the hell they are or do.
@6:56 - it would be a cold day in hell before the Stones would roll the dice by appearing at any downtown Jackson venue.
Just practicing what social justice truthfully is.
https://www.wlbt.com/story/12417049/former-charity-employee-in-court-on-embezzlement-charges/
An admitted Bennie Thompson protégé.
Ooh Wee!
Gotta a name drop in the Auditor's Demand List!
"
CANTON, MS (WLBT) – Tuesday, State Auditor Shad White announced that civil demands were issued to 12 current and former Canton municipal utilities employees.
The demands total $101,829.76 and include principle, interest, and investigative costs.
The following demands were issued:
Kenneth Wayne Jones – $78,612.81
The late Charles Weems – $4,308.00
Cleotha Williams – $3,722.20
Cleveland Anderson – $3,671.15
LC Slaughter – $3,542.02
Charlie Morgan – $2,370.49
John Noble – $1,937.51
Silbrina Wright – $1,239.50"
https://shadwhite.com/state-auditor-investigating-over-100k-in-misspent-money-at-canton-municipal-utilities-2/
lol
https://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2009/12/update-on-faim-case-assistants-husband.html
http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2009/12/update-on-fine-arts-institute-of.html
Grifters will grift, right?
Serial embezzler. How in the world did she get the job?
@6:36 (No. 2) wins the prize for best ever comment on JJ.
Wright has all the Federal tax documents/communications being sent to her personal address in Canton when previously GJAC used a Jackson post office box.
How much does the state legislature pay this outfit?
Yep, this is rich, alright. This is simply indicative of 'the movement', speaking of which, I'll be right back.
I see John Noble’s name again.
John Does 1-10 better wake up! The GJAC board of directors had to have approved all this, right? Surely the financials would have reflected a $110,000 trip to Disney World. The same financials that are at the top of any meeting agenda where board approval is required. Keep digging.
From classy Janet Scott to this. Is anybody really surprised?
Judge James Graves was listed as sitting on the Board in 2020. Why would the Board out take action on this?
And this is a 501(c)(3) operating in Mississippi. Is Michael Watson looking at it?
And I find it curious that she uses the GJAC website as her own personal blog—for the lack of a better word. All about her. Nothing about the agency.
Who funds this "arts council"? There website doesn't show anything but is more a bio for the director.
https://www.greaterjacksonartscouncil.com/
The trip was duly approved and funded with quick attention given to travel and expense reimbursement requests upon return.
The Director and others (listed as consultants and social partners) conducted business on this trip. Notes of those meetings were attached to travel expense statements.
I do these sorts of audits in my day job and am a desk clerk on nights.
$110,000 trip - she must have chartered a jet, hired limos, etc.
https://www.wlbt.com/story/12417049/former-charity-employee-in-court-on-embezzlement-charges/?outputType=amp
Looks like this isn’t her first time embezzling.
6:20 pm….
“I have been curating a contextual system of rising strategies that enables users to trace relationships and interdependencies between issues, supporting more informed decision-making in communities of color in Mississippi.”
https://youtu.be/71xxvp5R9hE
The mission statement of the organization is fairly clear "....creative solutions that increase diversity, access and opportunities". The lady is obviously doing just that, especially for people who happen to be her family, friends, and of course herself. I'm sure that if there is any money leftover after she has provided "access and opportunities" to those diverse people she will share the balance with the "community". Bless her heart.
Every time I read a story like this I regret every dime I’ve ever donated to a nonprofit and ever tax levy I’ve ever paid.
There is no Board of Directors listed on the website. Who appoints the board of the Greater Jackson Arts Councils- the City of Jackson? Or does the board self-appoint through a nominating committee? Who hired this woman? She has two past embezzlement charges against her. Did the board not do any due diligence or background check? She is a serial embezzler.
If I'm not mistaken, whomever posted the information about Shad White issuing demand letters to former Canton Municipal Board members, well, isn't that about 4+ years old news? Now, I could be wrong.
https://news.marketersmedia.com/arts-council-awarded-250000-grant-to-jump-start-arts-center-renovations/454009
Surdna Foundation | Whistleblower Policy
Surdna Foundation | Grants Database
City of Jackson, MS
The purpose of this grant is to provide project support to the Great Jackson Arts Council for their regranting initiative, in partnership with the City of Jackson, MS, to invest in artists, artists collectives, and small arts organizations of color proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures.
The Surdna bucks are filtered to Jackson through ...
Community Aid & Development Corporation, Decatur, GA
$1,200,000 | 3 years
General project support to the Community Aid & Development Corporation for its regranting initiative, in partnership with the City of Jackson, MS, to invest in artists, artists collectives, and small arts organizations of color proposing projects to imagine and practice more racially just systems and structures.
Strategy: Create
... this organization the Community Aid & Development Corporation.
The Community Aid & Development Corporation of Decatur, GA is headed up by this guy, Watani Tyehimba ...
... who, wouldn't you know it, "is a longtime activist in the New Afrikan People’s Organization and the New Afrikan Independence Movement, both of which advocate an independent state for blacks within the United States".
And what a coincidence to learn that Tyehimba was represented by Chokwe Senior while Tyehimba was ...
... "refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury" in a case that stemmed "from the holdup of a Brink’s armored car in New York that left two police officers and a security guard dead".
Now you'll notice that Tyehimba's Community Aid & Development Corporation received $1.2m but only $400k was filtered to Jackson and the GJAC. That is quite a commission for administrating this grant, now isn't it?
So I ask you who's a frequent flyer to JAN to ATL?
2019 990:
Briefly describe the organization’s mission: THE MISSION OF THE GREATER JACKSON ARTS COUNCIL IS TO ACT AS A CATALYST TO PRESERVE AND ADVANCE THE CULTURAL LIFE OF THE GREATER JACKSON AREA
4a
(Code: ) (Expenses $ 346,771 including grants of $ 74,154 ) (Revenue $ )
EXECUTED CULTURAL FUND OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM WHICH FUNDED OVER 85 ARTS AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES. THIS PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE TO APPLICANTS SEVERAL TIMES A YEAR FOR LARGER PROJECTS(MAJOR CULTURAL PROGRAMS, ARTS EDUCATION/ARTS THERAPY, CREATIVE ARTISTS)ON AN ONGOING BASIS FOR SMALLER PROJECTS AND EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FUNDING (NEIGHBORHOOD ARTS, SOS FUNDING)
Maybe the Forensics Auditor For Motel 6 can look for the Expensive Trip To Walt Disney World official paperwork in the "Emergency Assistance Funding" folder?
Come on folks, it's not like they took a junket to Paris, right?
"GJAC’s mission is to value diversity by increasing cultural access and opportunities through grant offerings, special events, venue management and arts marketing. Established in 1979, the agency is funded annually by the City of Jackson, Visit Jackson, Mississippi Arts Commission, Hinds County Board of Supervisors, as well as corporate partners and individual donors. Visit GJAC online at www.greaterjacksonartscouncil.com"
I'm thinking this investigation just might end with the removal of a hooded mask and the confession of "I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling Kingfish and his merry band of followers!"
11:36 - What difference does it make when the State Auditor issued the demand letters? The point of the post was to clarify just who she is and her history. So, what the hell is YOUR point?
"Board President-Elect Julian Miller...says that under Wright’s guidance GJAC (Greater Jackson Arts Council) has the potential to become a prototype for similar organizations across the nation.
“She is transforming the organization to not only enhance the arts but to address social justice and to really look broadly at culture and how it can permeate every aspect of our lives in addressing justices,” he said. “I’m excited to be part of this work at this time. I don’t think there is anyone more qualified and capable for this time.”
-------------------
Has this clown ever heard of vetting position-applicants? Or is he possibly complicit? I make no accusation or assumption in that regard. But I do know it's piss poor management to hire without intensive vetting of candidates and a lame goose could have come up with her background, which includes at least one embezzlement charge, a pre-trial diversion program and one demand letter from a State Auditor.
Nobody better for the position and a national model my ass!
In 2019, they spent about 36% of the grants they got employing the people who allocate the grants, leaving less than a quarter of a million dollars to actually pursue their rather wordy mission. This thing is just big fat nothing other than a job for the two people they paid that year.
So...At the end of the day, what crime(s) has been committed. Any lawyer-types care to opine?
12:52 - just making the point that is old news. Perhaps you should have made your point more clear. At any rate - "lighten up, Francis".
"Maybe the Forensics Auditor For Motel 6 can look for the Expensive Trip To Walt Disney World official paperwork in the "Emergency Assistance Funding" folder?"
-----------------
Thank you for the lead, bro. I'ma get right on that after my night shift. Heads gonna roll.
What's the latest on Jackson's "limited-edition signature Series Keith Haring fitness court"?
Touted to be operational by the end of 2021 in Wicker Wilson Park.
https://www.wapt.com/article/jackson-to-become-home-of-rare-keith-haring-fitness-court/35398926
"This is an example of Jackson's rising reputation as a radical city doing incredible things," Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said."
Giving these many embezzlers their own state is a great idea. Let's call it The People's Democratic Republik of PARCHMAN.
I think they should bring in the two auditors from Office Space to get to the bottom of this, get Silbrina to walk them through her typical day.
According to a Facebook post dated October 24, 2020, she and Board President Julian Miller are business partners.
Hmmmmm…..someone earlier mentioned him being complicit. Methinks you might be on to something.
After a quick Google, Wright pops up as having an article written about her in the Mississippi Free Press touting her commitment to social justice.
Just another con artist with access to government money. Judge Mills won't be impressed and no blessings for this thief.
She needs a gold card like I need a case of the clap.
The non-profit's funds in question have been "mismanaged" in the same way that Deppity Feel was qualified to be a real "auditor" in any way...or "the whistleblower" as far as that goes!
Why do you stop taking comments on stories? This place was just getting started. She is a fu*king crook. Don't be scared.
5:47 - Speaking of complicit...So is the person with the City of Jackson who authorizes cutting checks to this organization. And that also applies to the Hinds County Board of Supervisors which also funds this fake arts council.
I believe it should be noted how much Mickey Mouse, half-baked, Junior-high, art class level “art” this misuse of funds has kept out of the public’s realm. This lady has done a huge service to us all.
I heard that GJAC was the moving force behind all the Syphilis billboards. I guess that’s one way to support healthy cultural ecosystems!
The IRS reflects a 990 on file for the years 2016, 2018 and 2019. Nothing for 20 and 21. Hmmm
4:31 - I'm sitting here reading your first two sentences for the third time trying to figure out what you're saying.
9:45 : Because I've been F****ing sick. Sorry I didn't get your damn permission to get sick before you dumb mike foxtrot. and I'm still sick. Now get lost.
Silbrina was part of the Canton group issued demand letter from Chad White, which list Kenny Wayne Jones at top. Don’t Kenny Wayne Jones work for Hinds County as administrator, so wouldnt he be doing the check to Silbrina for whatever Hinds County does with the art commission? Plus Kenny Wayne Jones tells everybody at Char that hes a high power lobbyist. Can he work for Hinds and lobby? Does he lobby for Silbrina and Art Council? Crooks gaming the system.
They did the syphilis billboards? I will put my hands together and clap.
Link to file fraud complaint with IRS regarding tax-exempt organization.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f13909.pdf
To claim a reward: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f211.pdf
Sorry you're sick Kingfish. I had wondered if Sunday was a slow day or what. Get well soon.
This is why you need some assistant moderators. Well, other than Cap'n Kangaroot!
This is crazy! How does a small outfit charge $247,000 on a credit card in 10 months? Except for the Kardashian family and maybe a company with 50-100 employees! Would love to get a look at the monthly statements, lol. It could be a fun drinking game. Every time you see a bogus charge, take a shot. But I don't want to die of alcohol poisoning so I'll skip that. Lol. Seriously, though, is the board treasurer tied up in a warehouse somewhere?
11:58
Great link to that article about a grant to repair the Arts Center. The work at the Arts Center was never done. Where's the money?
How many of Ms. Wright’s family members went to Disney World? When is the next trip? May I go?
The National Endowment for the Arts recommended a $100,000 (Covid) American Rescue Plan grant go to the Greater Jackson Arts Council. If that went through and ARP funds were misspent, they have a federal problem.
https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/ARP-Grants-to-Organizations-State-List-updated.pdf
Years ago I served on a Federal Grand Jury. Once a month for 2 years. Learned a lot. Number one was if I was going to steal money best bet was from a government entity. Little if no oversight. The cases we had were because someone in the organization ratted them out because they didn’t feel they were getting their share or discovered they had the dame boyfriend
Is this woman under either investigation or indictment? If not, can we assume she skates?
And what about the 'funders' who say, "I'll give you $50,000 if you give me back $25,000 in untraceable cash"? Classic money laundering and fraud.
@10:06 No kidding! How DID she get the job? A simple Google search of her name would have revealed enough information that she's done this before. Once a thief....
We can only hope Ms. Wright is found by a Rankin County Court to be Ms. Wrong and her art lesson is a van Gogh is more than a van ride to the lady's pen. I'd like to be there to wave at her when dat van gogh.
"How did she get that job?" She's the perfect candidate for the job! Rest assured, as much as it appears she has stolen, somebody else in the circle got a whole lot more. She was just the useful idiot. Will she talk? That's when the fun begins.
10:02 - Unless the hiring motivation was to locate someone who could demonstrate the ability to pilfer (and share) and get away with it.
They couldn't put that requirement in the job listing - of course there wasn't one.
12:30 — but the way the board president (her “business partner”) has worked to rigorously protect her throughout this process makes me wonder if you aren’t exactly right! Just how far back do they go? He has to have known of her history if their friendship has been for any length of time. Maybe they’re both in on it.
These not for profits corps are not regulated by the State Auditor. This and others are private and not public.
The so called "executive committee" has a lot of explaining to do. If this whistleblower was pushed out the door back in August, what has the committee been doing since then? That's almost 8 months. Paging the School Board for Jackson Public Schools! Do you actually reimburse for trips to Disney World???
@2:31...until the web is unwoven and the Auditor discovers a trail of public money and public employees benefitting.
Wicker Perlis decided to take the day off and, doing his best Lee O. Sanderlin impression, let JJ do the work for him. It must be written in the manual over there.
Their charity registration expired February 15, 2023.
Fastpeoplesearch.com has both Silbrina and Julian at the same address in Canton.
How does the rest of the Board allow the Board Pres Elect to be that closely associated with the ED?
There goes someone's D&O insurance.
Look their Disney shirts say Art on them, it's all good.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=760412108299117&set=pb.100029910041669.-2207520000.&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=755955845411410&set=pb.100029910041669.-2207520000.
It's Going Down!
Look their Disney shirts say Art on them, it's all good.
Them there shirts is how you prove to the IRS it was a legitimate bidness expense!!
The whole famdamily is how you prove you meant bidness all them days of the trip!!
A storefront church for the win!
This comment was left as a review on the Facebook page of CWP Consulting in Washington DC (not Oxford, MS). These are the people doing the books for GJAC. Their website looks like an eight-year-old designed it.
https://www.cwpconsulting.com/
"RUN. AWAY. The amount of time, aggravation & stress it takes to deal with CWP Consulting just isn't worth it. Tina Latimer's team filed my taxes incorrectly in 2013. SEVEN years later, they still haven't fixed the problem. Getting them to respond to emails or phone calls is impossible. They won't even send me a copy of the letter they allegedly sent to DC's Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) on my behalf. OTR, by the way, has NO record of receiving the amended returns from Tina. I've been asking her team for copies for four months straight now - and have received no response. You can imagine how HUGE the tax liability has grown in seven years. And the stress of receiving the constant bills. None of this matters to the Managing Partner of CWP Consulting. I'll probably have to retain a lawyer. Save yourself the pain and take your business elsewhere. DC offers tons of good, professional options. CWP is not one of them."
$110,000.00 to go to Disney World??? Travel expenses for extended family??? She certainly knows how to work the trough. Wonder if she came from JPS or City of Jackson? Does this Arts Council have a board of directors? If the allegations are true, she needs to be sued, exposed, and held accountable.
A reminder of what GJAC used to be courtesy of the Wayback https://web.archive.org/web/20150206222130/http://greaterjacksonartscouncil.com/
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