Posts Tagged ‘Alpha Kappa Alpha’

The court today ruled that the original dismissal by Judge Natalia Combs Greene was too soon, which blocked any consideration of the allegations by the original 8 plaintiffs on the merits.

Duh?!

That decision was OVERTURNED on appeal…and now remanded for TRIAL!

Hello there Barbara McKinzie…

I’m BAAAAAAAACK!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority is going BACK to trial!

Mo’Kelly had to call in a favor from the courts to get the following document, but you are welcome to share it far and wide.

Click HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and EURWEB.com. For the most recent posts of Mr. Mo’Kelly, visit http://mrmokelly.com.  Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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Then-Supreme Basileus of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Barbara A. McKinzie pocketed (in terms of what was actually reported to the IRS) almost half a million dollars, according to the organization’s official 990 form for fiscal year 2009.

That’s more than President Obama and his “job” is a paid position.  According to the organization’s bylaws, the position of Supreme Basileus of Alpha Kappa Alpha is an unpaid, volunteer position.

Other figures of note include another $447, 879 in “legal fees” (page 8).  Altogether, almost $900,000 was paid to or because of McKinzie’s activities.

Barbara McKinzie (left), Betty James

Again, this is only what is actually being reported.  It’s unrealistic to suspect that this number includes any bogus reimbursements for inappropriate expenses to the organization’s corporate credit card or disbursements made off the books.

Let’s not forget to tip our hat to Executive Director Betty James who did quite well in her own right with more than 200k pocketed in 2009.

Straight highway robbery.  Your dues, your Boule registrations…straight to their bank accounts.

Anyone want to place a bet that McKinzie took another half million in 2010?

Feel free to examine the full 26-page tax document HERE.  FACEBOOK SHARE this post for all those who care about Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

(And y’all thought Mo’Kelly was done with this story?!  Think again…)

This was in Mo’Kelly’s stack of mail for about a week.  The Mo’Kelly Report is a one-man-unit.  From the writer, to the webmaster to the copywriter to the publisher to the news researcher.

Meaning, not all things hit the home page as quickly as Mo’Kelly would like.  This would be one of those occasions.

You might remember Cynthia Finch, former Southeastern Regional Director for Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, crony/close “business” associate of Barbara A. McKinzie.  A Knoxville jury convicted the former Knox County Community Services Director of two counts of felony forgery.

Translation…her a$$ is going to jail.

Finch, prior to being arrested had designs of becoming the organizations Supreme Basileus at the 2010 Boule.

Felonies do have a way of changing life plans.  Let’s take a look at what life will be like for Forging Finch in the months and years to come…

And ALSO ordered that the sorority pay $2500.00 in court costs for Julia Purnell!  Yes!

FULL STORY HERE.

But Purnell’s attorney said there were about 80 checks missing for amounts in excess of $10,000, that half of the expenses on an American Express account lacked coding and that records for one account — called the Profit Fund — couldn’t be found, though the auditors discovered a checks for about $350,000 written against it.

“It appears that the books and records of the sorority are in disarray, whether intentionally or unintentionally,” Major told Judge Daniel Riley.

McKinzie did not appear in court Friday. Carolyn House Stewart, who is the sorority’s current president and executive director, and McKinzie ally Deborah Dangerfield attended the hearing.

“We have complied with all orders of the court,” said Stewart, a Tampa, Fla., attorney.

Also Friday, the judge also ordered AKA to pay $2,500 to cover court costs for  Purnell.

The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse…as well as entertain. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mrmokelly.com. Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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(But once again, remember you read about it FIRST…in The Mo’Kelly Report.)

According to a recently conducted financial investigation by an Elmhurst-based Illinois firm, Edward Kirby & Associates, Inc., AKA Inc., gave about $2 million in reimbursements and pay to McKinzie over the four years she served as president of the organization.

Although the investigators had limited time in which to conduct their review of the organization’s financial records, their examination found that McKinzie received “combined payments for compensation, retirement, taxes and expenses in excess of $2.2 million dollars.”

The review also discovered life insurance payments paid by

"Y'all misunderstood me...I didn't want a 'wax statue'...I wanted a 'waxed lip'. My bad."

AKA on behalf of McKinzie of more than $170,000 — among other financial perks.

“It is noted that these payments were just from a review of the general account and the American Express charge account,” wrote Steven Kirby in a letter detailing the review to Major and dated Sept. 20.

The review was conducted on behalf of Purnell who won a court order.

“There were several other AKA bank accounts that were not examined due to time and budget constraints from which additional funds were paid to Barbara McKinzie,” Kirby wrote.

According to the summary of the financial review, there were several “questionable transactions and/or bookkeeping issues.”

Fourteen missing checks, each for more than $10,000, totaling more than $327,000 that were not listed in the register;

Several duplicate expenses submitted by McKinzie paid by AKA’s American Express account;

Quarterly expense reports submitted by McKinzie with receipts from previous years;

Several thousand dollars charged for clothing from high fashion stores;

Over $35,000 for purchases listed as gifts that showed limited or no details;

Payments of McKinzie’s home and cell phone bills over $13,000.

“It is the opinion of the investigators that the preliminary findings to date would warrant a much more detailed examination and analysis of the books and records of AKA,” Kirby wrote. “The areas that should be focused on include a review of the additional bank accounts focusing on similar suspect payments as found in the review of the general account [and] an interview with Barbara McKinzie regarding questionable charges.”

Full story HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse…as well as entertain. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mrmokelly.com. Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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Once again, The Mo’Kelly Report was already way out in front of the story.  You can read about it after the fact in the news…or you can read about it in The Mo’Kelly Report.

Just sayin’…

Full story HERE

In fact, the Chicago Sun-Times did a SECOND story, outlining some of the more outrageous expenses.

Second story HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse…as well as entertain. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mrmokelly.com. Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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For those outside of Chicago, the Stroger name is probably an

Todd Stroger

unfamiliar name.  For those inside the Windy City…his/their (John and son Todd are  often one degree of separation from major corruption.

Coincidence?

From the Chicago Sun-Times in 2003 (Reprint of story HERE.)

Until September, Stroger had one of his top 8th Ward precinct captains, Bill Granberry, as Forest Preserves maintenance director for $90,000 a year. The Sun-Times reported that the district kept a fleet of five special outhouses that came out just once a year for Stroger’s annual picnic — at a time when other commissioners were clamoring for cleaner outhouses. Granberry resigned. Stroger said he never knew about the outhouse arrangement.

To replace Granberry, Stroger chose a member of his ward organization, LeRoy Taylor, controversial with some co-workers because he was promoted to regional superintendent when longer-serving workers were laid off. Taylor, a retired deputy commissioner for the Chicago Water Department, has donated $2,145 to Stroger, the 8th Ward organization and Stroger’s son’s campaigns since 2001. Taylor also was given a coveted Forest Preserve home in Beverly.

Bylina said he and Stroger talked about Taylor replacing Granberry. Bylina insisted the appointment be on an “acting” basis until Taylor demonstrates he can handle the position.

“I think he’s got the experience, the exposure, the knowledge of the preserves,” Bylina said. Whether he gets the permanent job remains to be seen, he said.

“Oh, he’ll get the permanent position,” one mid-level Forest Preserve official said. “Stroger won’t let that go to anyone but an 8th-Warder.”

In 2001, another top 8th-Warder, Mezell Williams, resigned as the Forest Preserves’ $99,000-a-year chief financial officer on the eve of a hearing where he was to explain how the district amassed a nearly $20 million deficit. The district raided land acquisition and maintenance funds for day-to-day operations. Stroger said the district had little choice because tax caps limited its ability to raise taxes or float bonds.

In a step many board members praised, Stroger replaced Williams with Barbara McKinzie, an accountant with a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University.

(Another story had it this way…)

Readers…this is called, “connecting the dots.”

Carla Oglesby

Well, it seems now another Stroger “associate/employee” is in serious trouble.  Recently ANOTHER Stroger aide, Carla Oglesby…Stroger’s deputy chief of staff was ARRESTED and charged with stealing more than $300,000 from taxpayers in a scheme to award sham contracts, including some to firms she owned but for which she did no work.

Carla Oglesby, 41, Stroger’s deputy chief of staff, was ordered held on $250,000 bail Tuesday after she was charged with three felonies: theft of government property and money laundering, both of over $100,000, and official misconduct. She faces up to 30 years in prison in connection with the allegations, some of which were first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times in March.

Full story HERE.

__________

Subsequent to the original allegations against McKinzie, Cook County

Liz Gorman

Commissioner Liz Gorman alerted the aforementioned Stroger that an investigation and audit should be conducted, relative to McKinzie’s previous employment.

A former sorority staffer on Tuesday said she was fired after alerting the Illinois attorney general’s office to alleged financial abuses at the group’s Chicago headquarters. “In light of these allegations, I am very concerned of the possible misuse of funds during her tenure as chief financial officer at the Forest Preserve District,” Ms. Gorman stated yesterday in a letter to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.

Ms. McKinzie was the district’s Chief Financial Officer from 2001-2004 and also has served in financial management positions at the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, Neighborhood Housing Services Inc. and the Chicago Housing Authority.

When she was County Board President, Bobbie Steele, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, signed a $12,000 consultant contract with Ms. McKinzie to help draft a budget and provide other financial advice. That budget never materialized.

Story HERE.

The latest is that Oglesby also has the unmitigated gall to file for unemployment after being fired/arrested for laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars to her OWN company.

Story HERE.

Let’s bring it all together now.  Oglesby, besides paying her own dummy companies (not registered with the state) also is accused of not doing any work for the $24,995 contracts she awarded “herself.”  Sound familiar?

Stroger accepted her resignation today as deputy chief of staff. She had been the spokeswoman for Stroger’s failed Democratic primary re-election campaign. Stroger put her on the county payroll after his loss.

Prosecutors say an investigation into more than a dozen no-bid contracts awarded by Oglesby found that little or no legitimate work was performed by any of the companies, including two controlled by her. (Click HERE for details of the charges.)

The loss to the county from the contracts exceeds $300,000, prosecutors said during the bond hearing for Oglesby, 41, who is charged with theft of government property, money laundering and official misconduct. (Get details of the allegations against Oglesby here)

One of Oglesby’s companies, CGC Communications, was awarded a $24,975 contract to inform county residents of federal grant money available to those affected by heavy flooding in 2008.

The contract was paid up-front, and CGC later tried to justify the contract by claiming credit for outreach efforts spearheaded by a member of Stroger’s press office.

In a second contract highlighted by prosecutors, a county official expressed concern to Oglesby and “Public Official C” — identified as a Stroger media representative — about a contract he was asked to authorize.

The county official agreed to sign after Public Official C pressured him, and the money was traced to Arrei, a company controlled by Oglesby, prosecutors said.

In all, Oglesby awarded or approved payments for more than a dozen no-bid contracts. In at least two instances, contractors returned checks to the county because they hadn’t performed any work, prosecutors said.

Story HERE.

Stroger, McKinzie, fraud, arrests and/or investigations over contracts to cronies for work never done.

Coincidence?

Fraud usually never is…

The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse…as well as entertain. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mrmokelly.com. Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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Spies for The Mo’Kelly Report have been working overtime this week.  It seems that Barbara McKinzie, almost simultaneous to the forensic audit of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority retained ANOTHER legal team, to personally represent her and “protect” her image.

(Whatever is left of it.)

Carol Ray

In another Mo’Kelly Report exclusive, McKinzie’s “new” legal team sent a threatening letter to Carol Ray, one of the original 8 plaintiffs, warning her (among other things) of the following:

We trust that you will not partake or initiate any conduct that would tend to damage the
reputation or shed a false light unto Ms. McKinzie. Nonetheless, be advised that the publication
or distribution of any untrue or even misleading statements regarding Ms. McKinzie, whether or
not derived from the aforementioned documents, would necessitate the need to take legal action.

Consider this letter notice that should Ms. McKinzie hear or become aware of any misleading and/or tortious statements that are derived from you, Ms. McKinzie and our firm will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action.”

And no…Mr. Mo’Kelly has never received any such communication…EVER.

Just sayin’.

I guess that means that EVERYTHING Mo’Kelly’s said about Barbara A. McKinzie is neither “misleading” nor “tortious.” In other words, EVERYTHING Mo’Kelly’s posted here is factual and actual.

But Mo’Kelly digresses…

To the best of Mo’Kelly’s knowledge, there has been no further threatening letters since to Ms. Ray. Just know, this legal team is likely being funded with her previous “salary” from the sorority. Hey, McKinzie has alleged all along she was an “employee” of the organization, so know that AKA’s money is still footing the bill.

Check out the letter HERE.

The Mo’Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published at The Huffington Post and www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse…as well as entertain. For more Mo’Kelly, http://mrmokelly.com. Mr. Mo’Kelly can be reached at mrmokelly@gmail.com.

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