The university board, which is fighting to keep the school’s accreditation, has hired an independent auditor to investigate claims that chair Brian Boulware received finder’s fees from lenders the university borrowed from.

(WRAL) A new audit suggests no wrongdoing by the chair of Saint Augustine’s University Board of Trustees. 

The information presented in it contradicts a 2023 audit that showed one of the board members was paid a finder’s fee when a loan was given to the university, and that the university received that money from the lender as a gift.

The university board, which is fighting to keep the school’s accreditation, has hired an independent auditor to investigate claims that chair Brian Boulware received finder’s fees from lenders the university borrowed from.

The audit comes after WRAL broke the news earlier this month that the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office is looking into allegations that Boulware benefited from a finder’s fee on a $7 million loan. The allegations came in a lawsuit filed by Save SAU, a group of alumni and supporters of the university and were reiterated in the 2023 required audit.

A finder’s fee is defined as a reward given to one party from another party to close a business transaction. The latest forensic audit indicates neither Boulware nor the university received a finder’s fee for securing a loan in 2023.

The latest audit contradicts 2023 financial audit documents, which indicate an unnamed board member was entitled to a $28,000 finder’s fee for the loan, and the money was given to the university by the lender labeled as a private gift.

However, the 2024 audit concluded that there was never any finder’s fee to begin with and that Boulware did not receive one. 

“The only discussion had after the transaction had been finalized was with a former president of the University who, in his words, for some reason, brought up the idea of the bank paying such an amount to Brian Boulware,” according to audit documents. 

Audit documents say there are no accounting records to prove the finder’s fee existed or was dispersed.

“The Senior Officer with Bank OZK, an Executive Vice President involved in the transaction stated unequivocally that there was no such transaction planned, contemplated or otherwise, where consideration or discussion of paying a finder’s fee or broker’s fee to Brian Boulware or anybody else at the origination of this transaction,” according to the forensic audit. 

WRAL Investigates spoke to Ted Edwards, an attorney for Saint Augustine’s University. Edwards said he can’t speak much about the audit findings but that the university wants to be as transparent as possible. 

“The university wants to do everything it can to instill public confidence and at a minimum get the true facts in a public arena, so people will understand that the university is moving in a positive direction,” Ted Edwards said. “I’m not aware of any wrongdoing on behalf of board members. I think that the board members have acted in good faith and are working to move the university forward.”

WRAL Investigates asked Edwards about the discrepancy. He answered, “I can only say that the university hired an independent auditor that conducted a forensic investigation that found that there was no finder’s fee of any amount.”

WRAL Investigates posed that same question to the auditors in an email but hasn’t heard back. 

Edwards said he’s not aware of any wrongdoing on behalf of the board members. 

“The university wants to do everything it can to instill public confidence and at a minimum get the true facts in a public arena so people will understand that the university is moving in a positive direction,” Edwards said. 

WRAL News has been covering the Saint Augustine’s University’s struggles since late 2023, when several staff members were fired, and in early 2024, when employee paychecks were missed as the university began fighting for its accreditation.

In July, the arbitration committee appointed by The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges reversed the decision from February to strip Saint Augustine’s of its membership. The university is still on probation.

WRAL News is expecting a decision on the school’s accreditation in just a couple weeks. The latest audit, which denies wrongdoing, could be a way to prove the university is making progress in that regard.

Click here to read WRAL’s original story.