Florida A&M, a dubious donor and $237M: The transformative HBCU gift that wasn’t what it seemed

By JAMES POLLARD
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — It would have been the largest-ever private gift to a historically Black college or university: $237 million — far beyond Florida A&M University’s endowment. The money was promised by Gregory Gerami, a 30-year-old who called himself Texas’ “youngest African American industrial hemp producer.” But everything was not what it seemed and the donation is now in limbo. Questions abound about whether university officials properly vetted Gerami or his gift. He maintains that everything will work out, but other small universities he approached with proposals for major donations never received any money and the state has stepped in to oversee an outside investigation into what happened.