Slavery Museum Accountant: No $1.6 million Discrepancy

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Posted: 10:27 AM Feb 1, 2012 Slavery Museum Accountant: No $1.6 million Discrepancy RICHMOND, Va. (AP) An accountant retained by L. Douglas Wilder's U.S. National Slavery Museum said the museum's 2005 tax filing does not contain a $1.6 million discrepancy, according to Wilder's court response to one of the creditors in the museum's bankruptcy proceedings. Email Address: news@newsplex.com

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February 1, 2012

An accountant retained by L. Douglas Wilder's U.S. National Slavery Museum said the museum's 2005 tax filing does not contain a $1.6 million discrepancy, according to Wilder's court response to one of the creditors in the museum's bankruptcy proceedings.

The accountant, William Allan Jones, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court copies of 22 canceled checks to architects and contractors to support his finding that all the funds were accounted for, contrary to a claim by the city of Fredericksburg. The city is owed more than $250,000 in back taxes for a museum that was never built.

He wrote that the addition of those "fixed assets" made toward the building's construction accounted for the discrepancy.

"Once the above items are factored into cash, no discrepancy exists with beginning and ending cash," Jones wrote in a filing Monday with the court.

Jeffrey A. Scharf, an attorney representing Fredericksburg, first raised the issue before the court. Asked by The Associated Press whether he was satisfied with Jones' accounting of the funds, he later wrote in an email: "After reviewing the filing and speaking with the accountant, the details of the return provided satisfy the City's questions about the 2005 990."

Scharf had initially asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Douglas O. Tice to appoint an examiner to look into the apparent discrepancy, but he granted a request by the attorney representing the museum to have Jones review the tax filing first. The attorney, Sandra R. Robinson, also said the museum would file tax returns for subsequent years so it can resume fundraising.

At a hearing earlier in January, Scharf said he was skeptical of the reorganization plan and left open the option to seek the examiner if he was not satisfied with the results presented Jones.

The museum's debts total $7 million.

Tice scheduled a Feb. 29 court date for a status hearing on the museum's reorganization plan.

Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor and the former mayor of Richmond, proposed the museum chronicling the nation's history of slavery but was unable to raise the funds to build on 38 acres in Fredericksburg. The museum filed for Chapter 11 protection from its creditors last September, six years after it was scheduled to open.

Wilder had recruited entertainer Bill Cosby and other prominent African-Americans for the museum's board.

The museum's creditors include architects and designers and construction and turf companies that were involved in the planning and site preparation for a museum that was never built. They also include people who donated artifacts that would have been displayed at the museum, such as leg and neck shackles.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Liberalace Location: Scottsville on Feb 1, 2012 at 11:16 AM

Another high quality operation brought to you by a liberal politician. Hard to believe Cosby was on the Board; people of Wilder's ilk criticize him for calling out the culture of ignorance, broken homes, misogyny, drugs, etc. in favor of education and hard work. Wilder's gang just wants to throw money at it to keep their race-baiting careers going. Great job, Doug! R.I.P.: Junkyard Dog

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