The Beaufort County Black Chamber of Commerce board of directors is suing its president, saying he has refused to turn over tax records or hold meetings with the board since August amid discrepancies with the organization’s finances.

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In court papers filed in Beaufort County on Wednesday, the board says that by not allowing the records to be reviewed, chamber president and CEO Larry Holman is jeopardizing the tax-exempt status of the downtown Beaufort organization whose stated aim is to support minority-owned businesses and entrepreneurs in the area. The Chamber also offers housing and financial counseling and micro-loans to small businesses.

The board discovered discrepancies in the chamber’s finances in August and asked Holman for tax returns from 2017, 2018 and 2019, as well as 1099s and W-2s for those years, the lawsuit said.

The request is routine of a nonprofit board per its duties under organization’s by-laws and state law. and the information should be readily available not only to the board but to chamber members, the court documents say.

Holman has refused numerous requests for the tax documents, the board alleges in the lawsuit, saying he doesn’t have to provide them and has evaluated the finances on his own with an accountant. The lawsuit says Holman improperly fired the board and appointed his own in violation of chamber by-laws.

Holman said Thursday he had not seen the court complaint, saying in general, based on a reporter’s description, that the allegations are without merit. He said the chamber undergoes an annual audit to which board members are privy.

In the lawsuit signed by board members Bernard McIntyre, John McCoy and Leroy Gilliard, the board is asking for an injunction requiring Holman to turn over requested financial and tax records, to dismantle his board and recognize the elected board as the proper governing body, and not to use chamber money to defend the lawsuit.

A phone message for McIntyre at his Beaufort law office wasn’t returned Thursday.

Holman said two of those men, including the chairman McIntyre, are no longer on the board because they have “rolled off” through normal turnover.

Among the board’s allegations in the court documents:

• There is concern over Holman “mismanaging and misappropriating” chamber money by paying himself an excessive salary without the board’s knowledge and approval. Holman was paid $127,000 as president and executive director in 2018, according to the most recent available Form 990 form filed with the Internal Revenue Service. He earned $190,500 in 2017, $193,000 in 2016 and $96,000 in 2015, federal 990 forms show.
• The board unanimously rejected a 2018 audit and asked Holman to require an independent auditor to redo the 2018 tax return because the Chamber and Holman didn’t provide the auditor with information related to “over-inflation of accounts payable.”
• Since late August, Holman has refused to attend virtual board meetings and said he is dismantling the board and appointing his own board, including his wife as chairperson in violation of the chamber’s conflict of interest policy.
• Holman hired his son as a contractor to run programs and manage contractors, engaged in “nepotism and cronyism” and has overseen “massive” turnover among staff and contractors.

The Chamber of Commerce receives the bulk of its revenue each year from government grants, according its most recent required Form 990s. The organization took in $508,504 in government grants in 2018 of $635,342 in total revenue that year, its tax form said.

The Beaufort County Black Chamber spent $305,615 on some of its primary programs that year, according to the 990 form. That included $155,000 for U.S. Department of Agriculture and Small Business Association loan programs to help 15 small businesses applicants and approve loans for seven, totaling more than $100,000, the document says.

Another $77,739 was spent promoting Beaufort County cultural tourism through publications and events, the Chamber reported. The Chamber also said it held a dozen classes for first-time homebuyers, with 650 participants, and taught English-as-a-second-language classes to 50 people.

Local governments have typically given the chamber annual grants from hospitality and accommodations taxes to market the area to visitors. Beaufort County has given the Black Chamber of Commerce $50,000 in accommodations tax money each of the past two fiscal years and $48,000 in hospitality tax money this year for advertising.

Banking giant Wells Fargo gave the Beaufort County Black Chamber a $500,000 grant in October as part of a program to help small businesses negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.