ORLANDO, Fla. — A Bahamian charity is suing its co-founder in Orange County Court, accusing her of keeping upward of $200,000 meant to go to disaster relief.
- Lia Head-Rigby accused of keeping up to $200K of relief funds
- HeadKnowles Foundation suing Head-Rigby
- Head-Rigby said she's being compliant with investigation
The 227-page lawsuit, filed Wednesday, also names WePay as a co-defendant, which is a third party vendor used by GoFundMe.
The suit explains Gina Knowles, of Nassau, Bahamas, and Bahamian native Lia Head-Rigby, of Winter Park, created HeadKnowles Foundation in 2016 with the mission to provide financial and aid assistance to those in the Bahamas impacted by natural disasters.
In September 2019, a GoFundMe campaign was created, using the “HeadKnowles Foundation” name, drawing upwards of $1.5 million in donations.
Lia Head-Rigby told Spectrum News Wednesday that she created the campaign and forwarded all of the money to the Bahamas.
However, the foundation, through Gina Knowles, is now suing Head-Rigby, accusing her of keeping at least $200,000 to create her separate Florida-based organization called The Head Foundation, and using some of the money for personal expenses such as gas and groceries.
“The foundation had access to bank account information and noticed the defendant was helping herself to taking some money and so the foundation officer confronted the defendant and her husband and at that point moving forward, no money started to change hands anymore,” said Bill Mueller, an attorney with Kelley Kronenberg Law Firm representing the foundation.
A letter in the lawsuit shows Head-Rigby resigned from the foundation in September 2019 after internal conflict.
While she registered “The Head Foundation” as a nonprofit organization in the state of Florida, she also told Spectrum News on Wednesday that at the time of the GoFundMe she remained a head of the HeadKnowles Foundation, entitling her to use money raised through the GoFundMe account to organized Bahamian relief response efforts from Florida.
“I am HeadKnowles Foundation,” Head-Rigby said. “I am HeadKnowles Bahamas, whatever HeadKnowles is on, that is me, because I’m Lia Head.”
Knowles and her attorneys, however, contest that notion, saying she had already resigned from the organization, and all monies raised through the GoFundMe belong to the organization.
“Head, in her GoFundMe attestation correctly states that the beneficiary of the Go Fund Me campaign was HeadKnowles in the Bahamas, otherwise known as the Plaintiff,” the lawsuit stated.
“However, Head used invalid Bahamian documents in order to start the Go Fund Me campaign. The documents she used are titled “Memorandum of Association of HeadKnowles Foundation” as well as “HeadKnowles Limited.” These documents are dated March 20, 2018 and also contained signatures of Head and Knowles. However, these corporate documents were never approved by the Bahamian government. Head knew that and intentionally misrepresented their validity to Go Fund Me in order to begin the campaign," the lawsuit added.
Lia Head-Rigby denies any wrong doing, saying she is also cooperating with Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which confirmed to Spectrum News that there is an ongoing investigation into the matter.
“I’m fully compliant,” Head-Rigby said.
Head-Rigby says she is continuing to organize relief efforts to get aid to the Bahamas from Florida, saying it is being financed by donations through her website and PayPal, adding that she has no money connected to the $1.5 million raised through the original GoFundMe campaign.
The foundation, however, through the lawsuit disputes Head-Rigby’s, claims she has provided all monies to efforts in the Bahamas.
“Head did not transfer all of the funds to the Plaintiff as she attested that she would… Head converted funds and used them for her own purposes in violation of the attestation,” the lawsuit stated.
WePay is being sued in an effort to release $200,000 that attorneys for the foundation say have been frozen by the company. It has not responded to Spectrum News’ request for comment.