Deerfield Beach Sues Charity; Corruption Storm A-Comin'

Flickr: Dominic Fasino

​Three years after entrusting $30,000 to a nonprofit organization called Arlington Park Family, the City of Deerfield Beach has filed suit against that charity on grounds that it's withholding financial records that would show how the charity spent the money.

City Attorney Andy Maurodis, who has been threatening to sue for more than a month, confirmed the filing in a brief conversation this afternoon. He wasn't aware of Arlington Park's having received funding beyond the $30,000 in 2007, but Maurodis said it was possible.

Another nonprofit threatened with legal action,  the Westside Deerfield Businessmen Association, has been slowly cracking open its files for city inspection, and Maurodis doesn't expect to file a suit he was preparing against the organization, whose president is Felicia Poitier, daughter of Commissioner Sylvia Poitier.

But there are several more nonprofit organizations that have been asked to provide records to the city's forensic auditor, Michael Kessler. He has taken particular interest in the family and business relationships that Deerfield city staffers have with charities who received funding through the city's state and federal housing programs. Judging by the emails that have surfaced as public record, Kessler's report is going to raise concerns that the public dollars did not serve qualified low-income residents they were supposed to.