Last Updated on February 26, 2020, 4:11 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Hurricane Dorian donations: lawsuit of over $500K to be heard in Florida court
There is a legal fight taking place in Florida over the matter of hundreds of thousand dollars raised for the purpose of helping Bahamian victims of the Hurricane Dorian.
The epicentre of the matter is the money raised by the former partner of The Head Knowles Foundation, which is a major Bahamian charity.
The issue in question is what the former partner of the foundation, Lia Head-Rigby did with an amount of more than $217,000. She had raised this sum through a GoFundMe effort which in result raised about $1.5 million after Dorian devastated the islands in the September of the last year.
Dorian devastated parts of the Bahamas, and currently, the people in the affected areas are still struggling. Gina Knowleswho is the founder of The Head Knowles Foundation, said that the needs of the people in areas of the Bahamas are still great.
She says that it looks like a bomb exploded, it has been almost six months and the people in the affected areas still have no access to electricity. Further, she said that people are still eating canned food and are living in tents.
Knowles said that her charity, which she and Head-Rigby had started as a Facebook group back in 2015 to help victims of the Hurricane Joaquin still provides aid to those who need it.
She also added that the people in the Bahamas know them as disaster control.
During an interview, Knowles said Head (former partner) moved to Florida a few years ago and when Knowles formally created her foundation she kept the name “Head Knowles” even though she said that Head was not part of the organization.
According to Knowles, Head had nothing to do with The Head Knowles Foundation when the foundation was made; neither is Head a part of the foundation nor a part of any documents.
Knowles found it surprising to know that Head started the GoFundMe efforts a few days after Dorian to raise money. The initiative had raised more than 1.5 million dollars.
Knowles said that the money flowed to The Head Knowles Foundation in the beginning, and then it stopped.
Knowles pointed out that Head had signed an agreement that all the money would go the foundation, but it did not.
Knowles’ attorneys, in a lawsuit filed in Orange County last week, alleged that Head had used 2-thousand dollars for her personal expenses and that more than $200,000 is still unaccounted for.
Knowles’ attorney, Bill Mueller said that Head sent in the first million dollars and then raised a question that why did she stop sending the money and also asked that what had happened due to which Head stopped sending money.
Mueller further added that after questions started being raised about the Dorian donations, Head immediately started her own foundation in Florida.
Mueller further said that from the documents, it appears that she was redirecting the money that was raised to her own foundation.
Meanwhile, another batch of money from the GoFundMe effort, which amounts to nearly 250-thousand dollars has been frozen for the time being by the payment processor for the website.
GoFundMe is stepping up to help and stepping in to fill the gap of the money at issue.
GoFundMe will donate $217,645 to the Head Knowles Foundation; meanwhile, they will try to recover the funds from Lia Head-Rigby.
Lia Head-Rigby, on the other hand, has denied the allegations.
She said that the allegations are totally wrong and she has every receipt and everything has been accounted for.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
