Where did the money go?
Taxpayers’ money, that it, that was funneled into one of New York’s largest LGBTQ non-profits, the LGBT Network of Long Island.
Led by prominent gay activist David Kilmnick, the organization just lost $10 million in state funding after an investigation reported on by The New York Post found it was mishandling millions in taxpayer dollars it got every year. Seven contracts with the state Department of Health were pulled on March 4 as a result of the investigation, which was started in 2019.
The DOH said it will be ending five current contracts with the group that are set to expire on April 8, will not extend two others and will pull back another that was recently offered, according to an email obtained by The Post. The contracts add up to some $10 million in funding that was to flow in over several years, the DOH said.
“[The state’s decision is] not surprising but still extremely tragic for the community because ultimately it’s the LGBTQ community that loses because of David Kilmnick’s failings,” said a source familiar with the non-profit.
Kilmnick’s response so far has been to try and downplay what is unfolding. He denies the non-profit is losing $10 million in funding and said the amount is only $1 million.
The group has been getting at least 65 percent of its funding from taxpayers to supposedly provide services to homosexuals who need millions of dollars’ worth of housing, substance abuse counseling and HIV prevention services. New York’s comptroller and DOH were said to have found “serious accounting issues” with the Network and the group was unable to produce records showing they were using state funds appropriately, according to the email. They filed incomplete time and effort reports, didn’t provide substantial information about its use of subcontractors, billed for “unexplained costs” and kept an inadequate general ledger, the email said.
