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January 5, 2009
ACORN and FCR: Did they Dupe Brooklyn?
Anita MonCrief
The blogging ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief has published a new post about the loan and grant extended by Forest City Ratner to ACORN, which calls into question the veracity of ACORN Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis's dealings with her own board.
As with all major power consolidations (or as it is known to students of history: a coup d’état ) there are snags and other loose ends that need to be taken care of. In this instance, that dangling piece of thread is the Atlantic Yards debacle. As reported earlier, Forest City Ratner gave ACORN a loan of 1.5 million dollars back in September. According to several members of the ACORN Board, Bertha Lewis lied on several occasions regarding the timing of the loan and whether Board approval was ever received.
Careful review of the loan agreement shows that a letter was sent to ACORN dated August 19, 2008 from Forest City Ratner that stated Forest City Ratner would make a loan to ACORN in the amount of 1 million dollars and give ACORN Institute 300,000 now and 100,000 in August of 2009 and 2010. What is even more interesting is the date on the signed agreement between Bertha Lewis and FCR, September 4, 2008 (for copies of the contract please email me). According to emails that I have in my possession, Bertha Lewis confirmed the loan to the New York Times on September 25, 2008, and she stated that the loan was signed on September 8, 2008 and dispersed around September 12, 2008. The email goes on to show that Bertha's recollection of how she got approval to take this money from good old Bruce might have been a little faulty, or as one board member puts it:
“Bertha,
This does not fly with me. When I had [asked] for a copy of the loan agreement from Forest City [Ratner], you told the young lady no! I have since talked with an attorney and was told that I have every right as a member of this board to ask for these documents. This is [impertinent] behavior from you....
NoLandGrab: Will the mainstream media give FCR and ACORN a pass on this, or might they actually look into these troubling allegations?
Posted by eric at January 5, 2009 10:40 AM