LYNNFIELD — After a nearly six-year long investigation by Attorney General Maura Healey, the future of Lynnfield Youth Football and Cheerleading, Inc. (LYF) may be drawing closer to a final resolution.
But it might not be the result LYF has been hoping for.
Healey’s office has filed a Complaint for Involuntary Dissolution against LYF in the Supreme Judicial Court, claiming LYF has ceased conducting any charitable activities as it has been inactive since 2018.
A single-justice hearing was held on Dec. 29 before Justice Elspeth Cypher. She opened the hearing by saying that she “gets a lot of cases like this, but (has) never seen a contested one.”
Assistant Attorney General Eric Carriker said he hadn’t ever seen one either.
“They have and in the past continue to go to great lengths to avoid scrutiny” in “resisting the court’s authority,” Carriker said during the hearing.
The AG’s office initiated the action on the basis that its investigation shows that LYF’s dissolution would be in the public interest and that the organization has “abandoned” its charitable mission.
“The Attorney General makes this conclusion because LYF has assets remaining that are not being used to pursue its charitable mission; Lynnfield Pioneer (Youth Football and Cheer) (LPYFC) is actively pursuing the charitable mission that LYF has effectively abandoned,” Carriker said in the complaint.
The complaint also alleges that LYF has not provided concession stands income and expense records, that LYF is not in compliance with annual reporting obligations and that LYF “has failed to account for almost $20,000 which it reported possessing as of June 30, 2019.”
The complaint also seeks the appointment of LPYFC Treasurer Lauren Maney George — a forensic accountant and attorney — as agent to examine relevant financial documentation.
According to the complaint, the AG’s office began receiving complaints in 2015 that LYF, “which was organized and controlled by a certified public accountant and the proprietor of the sole provider of LYF apparel, State-Line Graphics, had refused to account to parents for income received from LYF’s concession-stand sales during football games and that LYF officers had threatened to bar LYF parents and their children from participation if they complained about LYF’s lack of financial transparency.”
LYF filed an answer to the complaint indicating its opposition to the dissolution and opposition to the AG’s motion for an order to appoint George as agent. LYF’s answer asserts several defenses.
“LYF has “acted in good faith and (is) in compliance with its statutory obligations” and that “with respect to the event complained of in the complaint, (was) at all times in compliance with the law and its legal obligations,” the answer claims.
Carriker argued in the complaint and at the court hearing that “LYF did not provide records sufficient to account for the income and expenses associated with” the concession stand. “Disaffected parents” established LPYFC in the fall of 2017. “By fall 2018, Lynnfield Pioneer had effectively replaced LYF in conducting youth football and cheerleading activities formerly conducted by LYF.”
Carriker said the legal standard to be applied in involuntary dissolution cases, saying that dissolution is warranted if the charity in question has failed to make required filings for a period of two years or if the AG is satisfied that the corporation is inactive and (dissolution) would be in the public’s best interests.
When asked by Cypher to explain the AG’s position that LYF is inactive, Carriker said that financial form PCs filed by the organization for 2017 and 2018, showed a “significant amount of expenses and activity,” but the 2019 PC shows only “several hundred dollars of expenses.”
In forms submitted to the court, LYF reported $115,322 in expenses, $78,639 in assets and $102,737 in revenue for fiscal year 2017. Just two years later (2019), the organization reported no revenue, only $258 in expenses and $20,879 in assets.
“They (LYF) have not been running any programs (for) the last three years,” Carriker said, adding that there are “no longer any officers.”
Carriker went on to state his concerns with the lack of accounting regarding the concession stand and LYF’s relationship with State-Line Graphics, saying “there’s something undo in those transactions.”
LYF Attorney Bradford Keene vigorously objected to Carriker’s claims that LYF failed to file documentation as requested by the AG, saying he thought the case had been “shelved” and that he “kind of forgot about this.”
Despite that statement, Keene said that “we have responded to every request … from the beginning.”
Cypher noted there are numerous factual discrepancies between the parties and that “we need some fact finding.” She declined to act on the appointment of George as agent. LYF’s answer said that it objects to her appointment because as a federal employee, she is “prohibited from providing any such service.”
Carriker made it clear that isn’t the case as George has received authorization from the Department of Justice to act as an agent.