LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kish Cumi Price, whose short stint as president and CEO of the Louisville Urban League abruptly ended in March, is suing her former employer over claims she was retaliated against for discovering potential improprieties at the organization.
Price left the Urban League, one of Louisville’s most prominent nonprofit organizations, on March 20 after only about five months on the job. Neither Price nor the Urban League have commented on the circumstances that led to her departure.
Price argues in a lawsuit filed Friday that, after she began the job last November, she observed the Urban League possibly "misappropriating grants and other funding," as well as potential conflicts of interests involving some of the league's board members and officers.
The suit claims that Price told the board she was preparing to raise several issues during a March 21 directors' meeting but was fired the day before "in direct retaliation for her performing her statutory obligations as the President and CEO."
Tom Coffey, her attorney, said in an interview Friday that Price simply wasn't given the opportunity to do her job and was terminated without a reason.
"She was trying to investigate this in good faith. Whether there was any wrongdoing or not any wrongdoing, she had to know," Coffey said. "She had a responsibility, a duty to learn that. But before she could learn that, before she gets to the bottom of that, the Urban League fired her."
Lyndon Pryor, the current Urban League president and CEO, said Friday he had not seen the lawsuit and declined to comment. But in a statement released hours later on Twitter, the league said it was "deeply saddened" by the legal action, which will "detract from both the League's significant accomplishments and its important work in this community."
The statement said the league "vehemently denies the baseless allegations."
In one example cited in the suit, Price claims Urban League employees were working for a separate nonprofit entity while still being paid by the league. The lawsuit describes that organization as the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center, though Coffey confirmed it is a reference to the Louisville Urban League Sports and Learning Complex Inc.
Sadiqa Reynolds, whom Price succeeded as the Urban League chief, is the president of that entity, according to the suit. She is listed as the president of Louisville Urban League Sports and Learning Complex Inc. in Kentucky corporate registration records.
"Therefore, any comingling of grants between the two without clearly distinct parameters would be improper and potentially illegal," according to the suit, which was filed in Jefferson Circuit Court.
Reynolds said in a statement that she had hoped for Price's success when she recommended her for the position. "What unfolded over her 5 month tenure, the board concluded, required her termination," her statement said in part.
"Often, when people are fired, they sue," Reynolds said. "It is a sad reality of the world that has been created. Her allegations have no merit and will be resolved in a court of law."
The lawsuit also alleges that Urban League Chief Financial Officer Anthony Leachman had been serving as the "unofficial" CFO of the learning center and ran a consulting business whose clients contracted with the center.
The Urban League spearheaded fundraising for the center, an athletic and education complex on W. Muhammad Ali Boulevard that includes an indoor track.
The Urban League works in Louisville and surrounding areas to primarily advocate and serve Black residents and others through social and economic programs that include job, homebuying and personal finance assistance.
The suit claims Leachman "had been pushing" the Urban League to let his clients use the center and share profits with it "to the detriment" of the Urban League.
Price also claims the National Urban League told her the Louisville affiliate wasn't properly using money earmarked for education and health purposes.
The suit says $2 million of a $5.7 million gift was used to pay off a loan, a move that should have required Louisville-based Humana Inc. being notified. But the Urban League hadn't told Humana, the suit claims.
Coffey wasn't able to elaborate on Humana's precise role in the circumstances.
Then in January, Price claims the National Urban League told her that the Louisville branch wasn't in compliance with how it uses education funding. The lawsuit says Price told the Louisville board that she had retained an outside auditor to assess the financial and operational status of the organization.
Between January and March, Price says she learned of "more increasingly alarming information," including that the national organization also told her the Louisville league wasn't using federal health grants correctly.
Price claims she also found that the Louisville Urban League used a $1 million grant from the Brown-Forman Corp. in a way that hadn't been authorized.
The lawsuit also says Price believed that Rhonda Mitchell, the local Urban League's chief operating officer, had intentionally kept that information from her as well as other conflicts of interest, including those involving the learning center.
Price then fired Mitchell, prompting Reynolds to text Price and board chair Kimberly Sisnett "to express her disapproval," the suit says.
Price was chosen to replace Reynolds in 2022 and took the helm last November. On March 20, the organization announced in a press release that Price was "transitioning out of the role, effective immediately."
The lawsuit is seeking a jury trial and unspecified monetary damages.
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