David Grissom Unloads on Ramsey, Pitino in Newly Released Deposition
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WDRB[/caption]
Former chairman of the U of L Board of Trustees David Grissom did not mince words when talking about Rick Pitino, James Ramsey, and former chief of staff Kathleen Smith in a just-released deposition from July 26th.
Grissom’s sworn testimony was taken as part of the 2018 financial fraud against Ramsey, Smith and other former administrators, in which U of L and its foundation are looking to get back around $80 million in alleged damages to the university’s endowment.
The University's foundation paid Ramsey $7.2 million, and Smith $2.6 million, in deferred compensation under the plan from 2010 to 2016, according to a 2017 forensic investigation that was brought on by the university.
In the deposition, Grissom said he wasn't one bit surprised that Ramsey and Smith were able to receive that much money in compensation. However, he noted that the former board members at Louisville didn't have full knowledge of what was going on which allowed Ramsey and Smith to take advantage of their board members. In Grissom's eyes, Ramsey and Smith were all about greed.
“Everything that President Ramsey and Kathleen Smith put in front of them, they never turned it down,” Grissom said.
U of L’s case against its former president and his associates relies on the excessive amount of spending from the university’s endowment, which the foundation manages. Among other claims, the university and foundation contend Ramsey and Smith were complicit in getting “excessive” compensation from the foundation.
Grissom even went as far as agreeing with a lawyer when the lawyer asked if Grissom viewed the board members in the Ramsey era "a bunch of bozos that didn't know what they were doing."
Grissom replied, "couldn't have said it better."
Grissom went on to say that Ramsey and Smith got away with robbery at the expense of the former board members.
“There was no hold up here; there was no bank robbery. But the fact is that, the behavior of Ramsey and Smith resulted in a loss of assets at the foundation level that would have the same effect as if somebody had walked into the foundation offices on a Friday afternoon with a .357 Magnum and said, ‘give me all your cash,’” Grissom said in the deposition.
Also in the deposition, Ramsey's attorney, Ann Oldfather, asked Grissom about a May 24, 2016 letter signed by seven former foundation and university board members. The letter raved about the university’s increased graduation rate, fundraising and other accomplishments under Ramsey and defended their use of deferred compensation to keep Ramsey from leaving Louisville for a better job.
Grissom responded that by saying he refutes the statistics in the letter. "If they were produced by President Ramsey -- and I’m sure they were produced under his supervision at the minimum -- I have a deep distrust about the dependability of any of these numbers,” said the former chairman.
“If they were produced by President Ramsey -- and I’m sure they were produced under his supervision at the minimum -- I have a deep distrust about the dependability of any of these numbers,” Grissom said.
Then, to top it all off, Grissom threw shade at the foundation for not getting rid of Pitino after his Porchini's incident in 2003, which became public in 2009.
“Let’s start with Coach Pitino fornicating on the table. In my world, that would have been reason to have him dismissed the next morning. That wasn’t done,” Grissom said, as an example of bad publicity that harmed fundraising.
Sheesh...tell us how you really feel, Dave.
(WDRB.com)
@BrentW_KSR
WDRB[/caption]
Former chairman of the U of L Board of Trustees David Grissom did not mince words when talking about Rick Pitino, James Ramsey, and former chief of staff Kathleen Smith in a just-released deposition from July 26th.
Grissom’s sworn testimony was taken as part of the 2018 financial fraud against Ramsey, Smith and other former administrators, in which U of L and its foundation are looking to get back around $80 million in alleged damages to the university’s endowment.
The University's foundation paid Ramsey $7.2 million, and Smith $2.6 million, in deferred compensation under the plan from 2010 to 2016, according to a 2017 forensic investigation that was brought on by the university.
In the deposition, Grissom said he wasn't one bit surprised that Ramsey and Smith were able to receive that much money in compensation. However, he noted that the former board members at Louisville didn't have full knowledge of what was going on which allowed Ramsey and Smith to take advantage of their board members. In Grissom's eyes, Ramsey and Smith were all about greed.
“Everything that President Ramsey and Kathleen Smith put in front of them, they never turned it down,” Grissom said.
U of L’s case against its former president and his associates relies on the excessive amount of spending from the university’s endowment, which the foundation manages. Among other claims, the university and foundation contend Ramsey and Smith were complicit in getting “excessive” compensation from the foundation.
Grissom even went as far as agreeing with a lawyer when the lawyer asked if Grissom viewed the board members in the Ramsey era "a bunch of bozos that didn't know what they were doing."
Grissom replied, "couldn't have said it better."
Grissom went on to say that Ramsey and Smith got away with robbery at the expense of the former board members.
“There was no hold up here; there was no bank robbery. But the fact is that, the behavior of Ramsey and Smith resulted in a loss of assets at the foundation level that would have the same effect as if somebody had walked into the foundation offices on a Friday afternoon with a .357 Magnum and said, ‘give me all your cash,’” Grissom said in the deposition.
Also in the deposition, Ramsey's attorney, Ann Oldfather, asked Grissom about a May 24, 2016 letter signed by seven former foundation and university board members. The letter raved about the university’s increased graduation rate, fundraising and other accomplishments under Ramsey and defended their use of deferred compensation to keep Ramsey from leaving Louisville for a better job.
Grissom responded that by saying he refutes the statistics in the letter. "If they were produced by President Ramsey -- and I’m sure they were produced under his supervision at the minimum -- I have a deep distrust about the dependability of any of these numbers,” said the former chairman.
“If they were produced by President Ramsey -- and I’m sure they were produced under his supervision at the minimum -- I have a deep distrust about the dependability of any of these numbers,” Grissom said.
Then, to top it all off, Grissom threw shade at the foundation for not getting rid of Pitino after his Porchini's incident in 2003, which became public in 2009.
“Let’s start with Coach Pitino fornicating on the table. In my world, that would have been reason to have him dismissed the next morning. That wasn’t done,” Grissom said, as an example of bad publicity that harmed fundraising.
Sheesh...tell us how you really feel, Dave.
(WDRB.com)
@BrentW_KSR
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