Tuesday, April 17, 2012

"Conceived in Iniquity and Born in Sin"

When that phrase came to mind earlier today, I thought it was Biblical, and I still think it is, but when I Googled it, I discovered it had been used to describe banking by Sir Josiah Stamp, who was the president of the Bank of England in the 1920s and the second richest man in Britain in his day. What brought the phrase to my mind--justly or unjustly--was reading a court decision on Leagle, the link to which had been provided by a reader. The case, which was heard in May 2000 by the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, First Department, involved the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York (plaintiff) and T. Eric Galloway (defendant). In Baptist Churches v. Galloway, the things Galloway was alleged to have done--the actions for which he was being sued by the American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York (ABC Metro)--seem to be the very actions that brought the Lantern Organization, then called the Community Lantern Corp., into existence. 

The lawsuit alleges "misappropriation of corporate opportunity by an officer of a charity, who was retained to help the charity develop an AIDS care facility but seized control of the project himself." It seems that, in 1994, ABC Metro, which operated an outreach program for AIDS patients, wanted to start a second facility, to be called Noah House. Galloway, who was then employed by the Settlement Housing Fund, was hired by ABC Metro, first as a consultant and later as an employee, to spearhead the Noah House project. This he did over the next two years, but after he had negotiated the purchase of a site for Noah House, obtained the necessary government approvals, and secured funding for the project, he allegedly "embarked on a scheme to seize control of the Noah House project and cut ABC Metro out of the transaction entirely." He told ABC Metro's legal counsel to incorporate Community Lantern Corp. (CLC) as a not-for-profit corporation, with him as one of its three directors, and to substitute CLC's name for ABC Metro's on the purchase contract with the seller. He was also alleged to have told the seller's counsel to delay the sale. That done, in July 1996, he informed ABC Metro that "he was resigning and that CLC was taking control of the Noah House project." 

A lower court had dismissed the case on the grounds that "[a]s a not-for-profit corporation, ABC Metro cannot satisfactorily allege damages, which would otherwise be premised upon lost profits." ABC Metro appealed the decision, and the Appellate Court determined that the lower court had "erred in concluding that a not-for-profit could never sustain compensable damages" and reinstated all but two of ABC Metro's claims in the lawsuit. 

I don't know the final outcome of the case. Perhaps Galloway or Tom Swope will comment and tell us how the situation was resolved. What is known is that the Lantern Organization, on its website, cites 1997, the year after Galloway resigned from ABC Metro, as the year of its founding.           

4 comments:

  1. So lets get this straight. Galloway started the Lantern Group by cheating a religious organization looking to help people with HIV/AIDS out of the deal?

    Having lived in one of Galloway's properties in NYC, it sounds about right to me.

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  2. So Community Lantern Corp. - birthed from the intent of fraud - has spawned GalVan - as Hudsons answer to her checkered past.

    god save us

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  3. Some large nonprofits "incubate" new projects that are then spun off to form another separate nonprofit entity. This separation is legal, approved by the Board and is never under question. In this case it appears that ABC Metro, Galloway's employer at the time, never intended to "incubate" anything and Galloway "spun off", or as the Court documents state -- "secretly created a competing organization to seize control of Noah House ... " Hence, the lawsuit. The Court does not mince words in reference to Galloway et al: "scheme ... dishonest fiduciary ... fraud ... deceptive actions ... diversion of corporate opportunity." They forgot hubris.

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  4. So can all City involvement please just STOP with GalVan/Lantern.It is not too late. Let them own what they bought. Pay their taxes and obey the law.So far they have proposed nothing ,but harm.
    We are under no obligation to them.Scalera is not Mayor .We as a city need to find a space for a library ,I do not know what they have signed with Lantern/Galway Group,since GalVan
    only owns 400 State St.
    but Get OUT of it,anyway you can
    Hudson has needed a new Police Station and City Court house,long before GalVan showed up.
    A fireman's home has been built,A new Central Fire Station, Mental Health BLDG.
    So go figure it out.Cut out the middle man here
    Lantern makes big money with these tax breaks and incentives from Fed.Hence,investors
    There is no benevolent philanthropy going on here at all
    Galvan is only going to use ,government Money to turn around and make tax payers, pay them rent.The homeless,the taxpayer pays for,so again ,thier real bread &butter is being paid by the tax payer.All their support services will be DSS or ST,Fed,so we pay again.
    When you look at the exorbitant salaries we pay the police,how are we supposed to pay for a complete build out of a Police Head quarters,2012 code ADA compliant with all the added security systems that is required by law now ,same for Court House,
    utilities,insurances for whole building,maintenance,garbage &snow removal.Pay for everything from a ADA compliant holding cells to gavels and waste paper baskets.
    STOP THIS BEFORE THIS GOES ANY FURTHER.30 YEARS
    paying $8,888.888 to these Grifters and then future citizens inextricable embroiled in this mess.The lease is the least amount of money this will cost us.That's just money.Quality of life is harder to gauge.
    The only person in Hudson indebted to GalVan is Scalera and his ego.
    GlaVan is only going to increase my taxes but I will have a homeless SRO 2 blocks from me.
    I have enough trouble here in the 2nd &4th wards.
    I have lived nextdoor to a Apt Bldg owned by Galloway for 5 years now.Garbage,rodents,illegal demo
    It has been vacant,dangerous,for all residents. Glass littered broken sidewalks,still forcing pedestrians into Truck Rte.All this at the Gateway into Hudson
    THEY DON'T CARE
    GET IT
    They have showed nothing but contempt for the citizens who live near or by thier buildings for years.They do not have any Civic Pride on the appearance of our Main City Street.
    Doesn't that tell C C anything??
    And yet CC is even contemplating dragging us all into this mess.
    Lantern ,dangling money,like raw meat over a pack of wild dogs.
    They do not care about Hudson or anyone but themselves,that lives here.
    GO BACK
    IT'S A TRAP!

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