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FAU Concludes Investigation Into DeSantis Center

BOCA RATON, FL (March 27, 2003) -- Florida Atlantic University today concluded its internal investigation of alleged misuse of funds from the College of Business DeSantis Center. The investigation, undertaken at the request of FAU Board of Trustees Chairman George C. Zoley, showed that the allegations of misused funds were false, and the individuals involved in the investigation were cleared of any wrongdoing.

FAU General Counsel Ondina Felipe and FAU College of Business Dean Bruce Mallen, who were named along with Zoley in the anonymously made allegations, joined him in requesting the investigation.

“Upon review of the materials provided by the individuals named in the allegations and documents I collected independently, it is clear to me and to university officials that the funds were used in the manner designated by the DeSantis Center’s mission,” said Morley Barnett, FAU inspector general. “There is no evidence of wrongdoing, thus clearing the way to conclude the investigation.”

Barnett noted that “the FAU officials named in the allegation were very forthcoming with information and glad to expedite the investigation.”

The internal investigation focused on charges made in an anonymous letter that funds from the DeSantis Center were improperly used to pay for trips to the Cannes Film Festival in France. Among the factual errors Barnett found in the letter were the number of trips taken – two rather than three – and the amount of money spent, which was a small fraction of the “$60,000 to $90,000” alleged by the anonymous writer.

In actuality, about $14,000 in FAU Foundation funds were expended on the two trips combined. In the aftermath of the one trip taken by Zoley, which he paid for himself except for some incidental expenses, he facilitated a $10,000 donation to the DeSantis Center’s foundation account.

The Carl DeSantis Business and Economics Center for the Study and Development of the Motion Picture and Entertainment Industry was established in 1997 in FAU’s College of Business. It focuses on the business and economics of the film industry by serving as an incubator for ideas, a forum for discussion and a center for scholarly activity in the field.
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