Vanessa Williams, executive director of the National Conference of Black Mayors, owes over $126,000 in defaulted loans and attorney’s fees to 2 top executives of rapper T.I.’s Grand Hustle Records.
Court records obtained by FOX 5 senior I-Team reporter Dale Russell shows that the National Conference of Black Mayors leaves a trail of unpaid bills around the country. The black mayor’s group, with over 580 mayors, owes almost $1 million in unpaid bills, liens and court judgments against them.
The annual mayor’s conference will be held in Atlanta next week, but as Dale Russell has learned, the head of the convention is leaving a trail of unpaid loans, liens and judgments herself.
Grand Hustle CEO Jason Geter and Grand Hustle General Manager Hannah Kang thought they were helping out a friend when Vanessa Williams came to them seeking a loan to fill a short term gap in the Conference budget.
Williams, a smooth talker, played on Geter and Kang’s strong religious faith. Geter and Kang advanced Williams a loan of $90,000. She promised to pay the money back in a timely manner.
But Geter and Kang never got their money back. In fact, Williams issued them 2 checks that bounced.
It took years and the legwork of private investigators to haul Williams and the National Conference of Black Mayors into court. Geter and Kang won a judgment of $126,125.50 against the organization.
But Williams protected her assets by transferring property into the names of her husband and family members.
When Dale Russell caught up to Williams, she blamed all of the conference’s problems on “embezzlement” by a former insider.
She claimed she was paying people back and she promised to provide documents to support her claims. But on the day she was scheduled to meet with Russell, she cancelled the meeting without explanation.
“They felt a little bit betrayed… by someone who holds them self out to be a pillar of the community,” said Michael Miller, the attorney representing Geter.
“There has never been any intent to pay my clients back,” said Miller.
The Grand Hustle executives were forced to start the legal process all over again when their previous attorney, Charles Mathis, died of a heart attack in 2011.
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