Ford’s departure was followed by the abrupt dismissal of Comptroller Tiffany Holmes and Budget Director Ronica Mathis. Both Holmes and Mathis are plaintiffs in Ford’s lawsuit.
An internal FAMU audit discovered that nearly $3 million had been transferred to cover athletic department debts to close the books by June 30th of that year. University rules require two signatures on fund transfers over $1 million.
The total athletic deficit for the 2018 year was brought down, after Robinson transferred an additional $1.5 million from the FAMU Foundation to athletics to presumably repay part of the auxiliary money. After all was said and done, athletics ended the year with a $1.4 million deficit.
Since 2013, FAMU had been cited four times by the Florida Auditor General, in an operational audit, for athletic deficits. FAMU had promised the Florida Board of Governors that it would no longer use university funds to cover athletic debt.
According to the lawsuit, Ford advised BOT Chair Lawson and President Robinson of the cash deficit during a conference call prior to preparing the university’s 2017-18 financial statements. Both Holmes and Mathis were on that call.
At that time, “Lawson accused Ford of changing the numbers in an attempt to explain the difference between the budget status in the operating budget and financial adjustments,” according to the complaint. “The Board Chair, was concerned about having to inform the Board of Governors of yet another athletic deficit”, after he had ensured them that things were under control.
On June 7, 2019, Ford said she was called by Robinson to a meeting in his office with the VP of Audit and Compliance Joseph Maleszewski where she was asked how the athletic deficit happened. Ford, reminded Robinson of their pervious conversation with the BOT Chair in which the deficit was discussed.
During that meeting Ford said she was interrogated by Malezewski who stated that she and her area were responsible for oversight of athletics but allowed them to incur a deficit.
Ford pushed back, explaining that while there are policies and procedures in place to keep athletics from overspending, the problem is athletics (under then AD John Eason) does not follow them.
After the meeting, Robinson later called Ford by phone and told her he was faced with two options: 1) demoting (her); and 2) “you and I know what the second option would be.”
Later that evening, Ford texted Robinson saying she would be resigning effective immediately.
Shortly after that text Ford was “constructively terminated”, according to the lawsuit. The next day Holmes and Mathis faced a similar fate.
Holmes and Mathis claimed they did not learn why they were termination until reading about it in a Tallahassee Democrat article, which the lawsuit says was based on “contrived allegations”.
All three plaintiffs have had stellar employee evaluations while at FAMU and had received multiple promotions during their tenure with the University.
Ford, for example, had been promoted seven times during her 18 years with the university, and Holmes had received five promotions in her 10 year stint at FAMU. Mathis had been budget director for four years, and in recent years had been assigned oversight duties of the athletic budget.
Mathis, according to the lawsuit, warned Robinson and the Board chair on several occasions that overspending in the athletic department would become an issue if not controlled. Soon after she was “constructively terminated”.
Ford, Holmes, and Mathis have requested a jury trial.
Ford is the second former member of Robinson's Leadership Team to sue him and the university in recent years. George Cotton, former VP for Advancement filed a lawsuit against Robinson and the BOT in 2019. Cotton's lawsuit painted a picture of "bullying and harassment" by FAMU Trustees which, according to the complaint, Robinson allowed to persist.