ORLANDO, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody held a news conference Thursday morning in Orlando to announce that the state has recovered more than $5 million from the Florida Coalition against Domestic Violence after its CEO was paid $7.5 million over a three-year span before she resigned.
The governor said the agency initially failed to provide financial documents to the Florida Department of Children and Families and its contract was terminated last year.
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“Today’s settlement is a win in our fight to recover money that was intended to help families rebuild after facing domestic violence,” DeSantis said. “This organization acted in greed, abusing state dollars meant to serve families during their most vulnerable times. I am thankful this injustice was righted today with the return of this money.”
Moody said the agency has since been dissolved and its assets liquidated.
She called the agency’s actions “despicable” and said the state reached a settlement with the agency after its executives were overpaid so significantly that they owed $1 million in taxes.
“For several years, FCADV and (the coalition’s former CEO and President) Tiffany Carr concocted to pay herself an excessive compensation scheme, millions of dollars meant to benefit domestic violence victims. When uncovered, this scheme threatened to disrupt funding to domestic violence centers,” Moody said. “I am pleased that through these actions, we succeeded in getting rid of the bad management, dismantling the organization, implementing a new system to serve victims of domestic violence and recouping millions of misappropriated funds.”
According to state officials, Carr had a salary that had ballooned to $750,000 a year and separate compensation for up to 210 days a year of paid time off.
DCF filed a lawsuit against the agency, along with Carr, CFO Patricia Duarte, COO Sandra Barnett, and its board members, alleging “breach of contract, breach of the implied duty of good faith, breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent concealment, civil conspiracy and fraudulent misrepresentation.”
As part of the settlement, FCADV officers and directors must pay more than $3.9 million to DCF and the receiver, in addition to $2 million from Carr.
The FCADV foundation is also required to liquidate all remaining assets and pay $1.1 million to domestic violence centers around the state.