A nonprofit in charge of dispensing millions of dollars to help neighbors who live around FedEx Field has been forced to return the money after an audit found an almost nonexisting accounting system that allowed officials to conduct business without the board’s knowledge, according to a Prince George’s County report.
The county created the stadium grant to reduce the effect on the surrounding community and placed the Central Prince George’s County Community Development Corp. in charge of managing the money — $500,000 a year — generated from stadium revenue.
Terry Speigner, chairman of the group’s board, said he was disappointed by the deficiencies discovered in the audit, but said the report did not allege that the money was misused or unaccounted for.
“The audit is very depressing because a lot of folks fought a lot of years to make sure that these were going to the right people,” Speigner said.
Speigner and other board members were unaware of several bank accounts that used the organization’s tax identification, the audit said. One board member was using the accounts to conduct business in the name of the organization without board members’ knowledge, the audit said.
The audit did not name the board member, but sources familiar with the investigation identified him as Randy McCrae, a D.C. landlord. McCrae could not be reached late Thursday. The member immediately was stripped of his position, Speigner said.
The organization, which had received $1 million, wired $543,880 back to the county Wednesday morning, Speigner said. The rest already had been dispersed to 26 organizations. The development group will have to reapply for the grant.
