I wanted to offer a correction. You stated that a "few minutes on Google" was all that was needed to figure out that Gerami was/is not legit. It was actually less than a minute, and more like a few seconds.
Thank you for documenting your concerns and sharing them on HBCU sports. I am very sad that the proper and critical vetting was not done. Sad in many ways :(
I believe this guy is 100% a scammer. There are zero reasons to believe he has any money at all and even fewer reasons to believe any of his companies are legit. He's attempted to make a number of bogus donations to other universities across the county, including but not limited to UT Austin and Coastal Carolina, and FAMU is just the most recent school to be fooled. Austin at least had the good sense to tell him to take a hike after they dug into him a bit. His most recent attempt with CCU imploded almost certainly because they realized (too late) that they'd been had. The ensuing scandal there cost a bunch of people their jobs. This will almost certainly end the same way for FAMU.
The donation was in "private shares" of privately-held company. Private valuations are also notoriously shady (a fact that private equity uses to their advantage) since there is no legally mandated financial audit/reporting. FAMU likely received papers claiming to represent 1M shares worth $237 each, which is where the donation amount comes from and why the admins are claiming to have the money in the bank. But even private companies gain a footprint that's impossible to hide if they get to a certain size. Sad.
I read your piece on the FAMU donation. I too was puzzled by the match of the donor to the size of the donation, both of which seemed to have come from out of nowhere, but I trusted that the FAMU team, including their Office of Institutional Advancement, etc. would have not only vetted the gift and giver, but would have the funds secured into their bank account before making such a public statement. I am holding out for hope, with a dash of skepticism on the side.
Was that a boiler plate speech? Clearly he didn't hire anyone to write it, maybe an AI program?
Repetitive push words and phrases are practically all the speech contains, however I don't have speech writer experience. I have written speeches for a couple of corporate retirement spectacles given by myself, but that gives my critique no weight.
I hope this guy is legit. He does check all the boxes for adversity, almost too many boxes.
Man. I hope that this is not a black eye for FAMU. If so, I as well as others (including many news outlets (Black and White), will have egg on our faces as I was giving praise on LinkedIn and X. The sad part (if true) is that it is a Black person who conned their own people . This type of fraud would be called an affinity fraud in which a person uses commonalities to woo the same group for their money out of sympathy. And yes, the president and others should be fired for not practicing due diligence if true. We will wait to see if the money is in the bank.
Man, this is why we need HBCU Digest back in full force to give an honest assessment and research.
I wanted to offer a correction. You stated that a "few minutes on Google" was all that was needed to figure out that Gerami was/is not legit. It was actually less than a minute, and more like a few seconds.
Thank you for documenting your concerns and sharing them on HBCU sports. I am very sad that the proper and critical vetting was not done. Sad in many ways :(
I believe this guy is 100% a scammer. There are zero reasons to believe he has any money at all and even fewer reasons to believe any of his companies are legit. He's attempted to make a number of bogus donations to other universities across the county, including but not limited to UT Austin and Coastal Carolina, and FAMU is just the most recent school to be fooled. Austin at least had the good sense to tell him to take a hike after they dug into him a bit. His most recent attempt with CCU imploded almost certainly because they realized (too late) that they'd been had. The ensuing scandal there cost a bunch of people their jobs. This will almost certainly end the same way for FAMU.
The university plays For The Love of Money at every ceremony where someone donates money (alumni, firms, etc.)
The irony is glaring!
The donation was in "private shares" of privately-held company. Private valuations are also notoriously shady (a fact that private equity uses to their advantage) since there is no legally mandated financial audit/reporting. FAMU likely received papers claiming to represent 1M shares worth $237 each, which is where the donation amount comes from and why the admins are claiming to have the money in the bank. But even private companies gain a footprint that's impossible to hide if they get to a certain size. Sad.
I read your piece on the FAMU donation. I too was puzzled by the match of the donor to the size of the donation, both of which seemed to have come from out of nowhere, but I trusted that the FAMU team, including their Office of Institutional Advancement, etc. would have not only vetted the gift and giver, but would have the funds secured into their bank account before making such a public statement. I am holding out for hope, with a dash of skepticism on the side.
Was that a boiler plate speech? Clearly he didn't hire anyone to write it, maybe an AI program?
Repetitive push words and phrases are practically all the speech contains, however I don't have speech writer experience. I have written speeches for a couple of corporate retirement spectacles given by myself, but that gives my critique no weight.
I hope this guy is legit. He does check all the boxes for adversity, almost too many boxes.
Man. I hope that this is not a black eye for FAMU. If so, I as well as others (including many news outlets (Black and White), will have egg on our faces as I was giving praise on LinkedIn and X. The sad part (if true) is that it is a Black person who conned their own people . This type of fraud would be called an affinity fraud in which a person uses commonalities to woo the same group for their money out of sympathy. And yes, the president and others should be fired for not practicing due diligence if true. We will wait to see if the money is in the bank.
Man, this is why we need HBCU Digest back in full force to give an honest assessment and research.