The $237 million-dollar Florida A&M mystery has been solved.
A 176-page report made public on Tuesday concluded that Gregory Gerami, the man who sent shockwaves through the HBCU and higher education community with an alleged historic donation to FAMU, never was in possession of that much money, making his claim “fraudulent.”
The report, conducted by law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, states that the Florida A&M administration, led by now-former President Dr. Larry Robinson, “improperly handled” vetting the gift. This revealed a lack of trust in leadership while clandestinely moving forward with the gift agreement with Gerami.
The report says Gerami committed to “a calculated effort to defraud the investors and partners by presenting ambitious but ultimately unverified business ventures.”
The report continued that “The major gift [was] fraudulent, and the valuation performed by Mr. Gerami to be baseless.”
When reached by the Tallahassee Democrat, Gerami said he was reviewing the report and would make a statement following his review.
At Florida A&M’s spring graduation ceremony in May, Gerami took the stage and announced he was donating $237 million to the school. The donation was believed to be the largest gift allotted to an HBCU in history.
Soon after the historic announcement, questions began to surface about the legitimacy of the gift and Gerami’s entrepreneurial claims.
The fallout included resignations from Shawnta Friday-Stroud (former FAMU VP for university advancement and executive director of the FAMU Foundation) and Robinson, who announced his resignation last month.
“The pressure to deliver a high-profile announcement caused individuals to overlook and ignore critical red flags,” the report said. “The combination of leadership influence, the rush to showcase the Major Gift, and the subsequent lack of thorough vetting created an environment where scrutiny and caution were sacrificed for perceived immediate gains, ultimately allowing the fraudulent Major Gift to proceed unchecked.”
