Former Kennedy Center Heads Rebut Current KC President’s Allegation of “Fraud”

In Wednesday’s (5/20) Washington Post, Travis M. Andrews writes, “Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell accused the art institution’s previous leadership of financial mismanagement and ‘fraud’ during a speech at the White House on Monday evening. ‘Our great new CFO went through the ’24 and ’25 budgets of the Kennedy Center and found $26 million in phantom revenue, fake revenue,’ Grenell said. ‘It’s criminal. We’re going to refer this to the U.S. attorney’s office.’… Deborah Rutter, the president of the Kennedy Center for a decade before the Trump-created board fired her in February, released a statement on Tuesday denying the allegations and suggesting that the current leadership is scrambling to find someone to blame for their own fiscal mismanagement…. She added that each year during her presidency, the center created an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which was approved by the board of trustees. That board included several Trump appointees…. Former board chair David Rubenstein said that ‘with full transparency, the financial reports were reviewed and approved by the Kennedy Center’s audit committee and full board as well as a major accounting firm.’… ‘I stand by my assertion that at the time of my departure, the Kennedy Center was fiscally sound, on track to balance its budget for the year, and positioned to grow its endowment significantly’ … Rutter wrote.”