I listened to Yvette Carnell's podcast the other night and I was shocked by a captivating tale. It was a story so remarkable, so profound, and so bizarre that even Zora Neale Hurston couldn't have written it herself. Dr. Larry Robinson, the President of Florida A&M University, seemed to have his eyes elsewhere when he accepted a $237 million donation from Gregory Gerami, CEO of Batterson Farms Corp., supposedly a hemp farm in Alabama or Texas. Gregory Gerami and the Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust, pledged to donate the shares of stock that had an value worth at least $239,000,000, plus an additional $61 million in donations that would span over a 10-year period.

Yvette interviewed Jerell Blakeley, whose op-ed titled "For the Love of Money, has FAMU been fooled?" raised doubts about the validity of this substantial donation and started a media blitz that soon questions the sizeable donation and the donator. Blakeley questioned Gerami's identity and origins upon learning of the donation, considering it was the largest donation ever given to an HBCU, twice the amount Spelman received earlier this year. After a quick Google search, Blakeley concluded that Gerami was probably a fraud and that Dr. Larry Robinson and FAMU could very well have been deceived.

WHO IS GREGORY GERAMI, CEO?

After handing over the supposed donation, Gregory Gerami appeared in a video wearing a Covid mask and a suit jacket that looked as though it hadn't been ironed since it was last stored in a plastic bag bound for goodwill. He gave off an aura of poverty, yet these elite intellectuals failed to realize that perhaps they should have vetted the donor before making the donation public.

It's a classic case of something being too good to be true. According to public information, Gregory Gerami is a 32-year-old CEO of a hemp company with a limited social media profile. He had been a sick child, abandoned by his birth parents; he was adopted at two. He suffered from severe health challenges but overcame all obstacles thanks to the family that saved his life. Other than these self-proclaimed experiences, nothing more about the man and his wealth is known. However, he is known for scamming at least one other HBCU. According to Sun Times, Gerami, pledged a $95 million donation to South Carolina college in 2020—needless to say that was also a pipe dream. Gerami also allegedly approached other HBCUs with the same scam but was quickly shut down.

Florida A&M, like many HBCUs, is seriously underfunded and faces challenges due to its debilitating infrastructure. They are in dire need of resources, which could potentially explain why Dr. Robinson and his team were so easily deceived. But the American black community is left wondering, why didn’t Dr. Robinson see the scam?

THE BOARD MEETING

The emergency board meeting, called by FAMU Board of Trustees Vice Chair Deveron Gibbons, shed light on how the university secured the large donation and came to know CEO, Gregory Gerami. Shawnta Friday-Stroud, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Business and Industry, provided crucial insights into the donation's particulars.

During the board meeting, she had discussed the events that unfolded over the six-month period leading up to Gerami's speech at the school's commencement ceremony and his public announcement of the donation. Until that moment, Dr. Stroud had not identified any issues concerning Gregory Gerami, even after encountering him in public and noticing he was clearly trying to conceal some dental problems. For a millionaire, the cost of purchasing veneers to improve his smile would have been trivial. Yet, he consistently kept his mouth closed or covered. Nevertheless, nothing that Dr. Stroud had observed prompted her to throw caution to the wind. She saw no reason to deviate from her standard due process or delve deeper into her investigation.

She never questioned Gregory Gerami’s age, his business, or Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust. Not even after receiving a letter from Mr. Gerami investment firm notified FAMU they were dropping Battison Farms and no longer representing Gregory Gerami or the trust. Dr. Stroud never hesitated. If this were a fire, Shawnta Friday-Stroud would have been burnt up.

She sold this deal to the President and several others and together they decided to move forward with the excessive donation and kept matters from the board, claiming they had signed a nondisclosure agreement (NDA).

Once they confirmation from their Investment Banker, Matthew Waters, verifying receipt of the stocks, Dr. Robinson posted a video of him and Gregory Gerami sealing the deal with a handshake. It was as if, Dr. Robinson and his team had found a pot of gold, as they eagerly signed paperwork while CEO Gerami sat back, looking like a straight snake. Not one of these intelligent black scholars read the writing on the wall.

GAME OVER

It wasn’t until Saturday, May 4, 2024, did news of the large donation begin to circulate around social media and finally caught the attention of the board. Speculation surfaced following Mr. Gerami commencement speech to a sea of graduates at FAMU. After his speech, he shucked and jived around and pulled out a long fake check with the $237Million amount written in green letters and numbers—screaming “greed” on the amount line. To the tone of money, money, money, Dr. Robinson received the check like a champ. There was such great excitement. An HBCU receiving all that money! Imagine the possibility, money for fields and resource center and athletic facilities, money for school of business, entrepreneurship and of course funds for the bands and drill teams. They had their strategic priorities in line. All they needed was the money.

This euphoria quickly dissipated as news of the large donation began to circulate on social media, prompting questions and skepticism. The grandeur of the moment faded when the truth behind the donation and CEO Gerami's intentions came to light, casting a shadow over the university's initial elation.

The university never did a simple Google search to find the Batterson Farms Corp website, or surely, they would have questioned who Mr. Gerami actually was. They never went to check out the farms never asked any questions about how they would liquidate the stocks, or the value of the stocks, like gullible fools, they received and filed every document Mr. Gerami without a single question.

I can go on and on about this sad tale. But I am just going to stop. I will say that Dr. Larry Robinson is still singling they are hopeful the donation is real. However, we will probably never know as President Robinson has paused the donation. I suppose they will return the stock certificates and walk away empty handed. The board meeting ended with the conclusion that FAMU needed to have a conversation about hiring a third-party company to do an audit of the university gifting processes.

While I support black universities, this event has left me flabbergasted. How did they allow themselves to be so easily duped? Where they really that desperate. Or did the color of green make them avoid any serious due process or skip trace search. Long gone are the days of W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington, true scholars who, despite the challenges faced by the black community, had substantial bodies of work to prove their worth. Dubois who graduated from Fisk university and had penned the, Of the Meaning of Progress, a tale of his return to Fisk University in Tennessee, hometown of Dr. Lawrence Robinson, only to discover the world has progressed and a dear friend had died. This is the exact why I felt when I heard about this deception. It’s just sad.

It seems that there's a prevailing perception within the American black community that we are being led by elite scholars. However, the reality is indeed grim. To observe that influential figures within the American Black community, from Dr. Robinson to Cornel West; from Claudine Gay to Fani Willis, these individuals have scarified their values for monetary gain. This unfortunate perception, which is sadly often mistaken for reality, portrays us as easily manipulated, prone to betrayal, and used as mere pawns. It's a regrettable reflection on the current state of the American black community.

You would think the black elite bourgeoisie should know better.