ORLANDO, Fla. – The firm that conducted an independent investigation into the University of Central Florida's misuse of funds to construct an on-campus building has denied that its report was biased or influenced in any way.
Joseph Burby from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, LLP wrote in a letter to UCF board of trustees acting chairman Robert Garvy that any claims denying the independence of the firm's investigation are not factual.
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"To be absolutely clear, BCLP's investigation and report were its own work, and its finding and conclusions were not influenced by anyone, including any board member or UCF official," Burby wrote.
Burby begins by noting that the firm was chosen because it had done no legal work for UCF, the board of trustees or any individual board member in the past 20 years and the investigators did not have any prior relationship with university officials.
He then lays out methods by which the firm sought to be transparent. He writes that investigators regularly spoke to university officials about the status of the investigation but only spoke with trustees, including former president Dale Whittaker, during their interviews about the $38 million of education and general funds that were improperly used to build Trevor Colbourn Hall.
"There is simply no merit to any claim that UCF attempted in any way to influence BCLP's ultimate findings," Burby wrote.
Regarding the issue of why certain university officials received a draft of the nearly 200-page report before it was officially published on Jan. 17, Burby said it's not uncommon for the person overseeing the investigation, in this case trustee Beverly Seay, to review a draft in case there were obvious errors in how university terms or processes were described.
The firm's investigation found that no employees benefitted from the misuse of funds and that trustees did not know what they were doing was improper.
Since the misspending came to light, several top officials at the university, including Whittaker, have either resigned or been terminated.