http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/26890.htm
MORE HEADS ROLL IN RADIO LOAN SCANDAL
By TOM TOPOUSIS and STEPHANIE GASKELL
August 11, 2005 -- The Bronx social-services organization that made a controversial loan to the Air America radio network has been rocked by more high-level staff departures, sources said.
Just days after the executive director abruptly resigned following Post reports that the club had provided $875,000 in bizarre loans to Air America, two other top officials at the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club have quit.
Acting executive director Lorraine Corva — who took over after Charles Rosen suddenly resigned last week — will be leaving her job on Aug. 26, sources said.
Assistant executive director Jeff Aulenback also resigned, effective immediately, sources said.
Their departures from the embattled social-services agency are tied to the ongoing fallout from the highly unusual and possibly improper loan to Air America, as well as other dubious fiscal practices, sources said.
A spokesman for the club declined to comment on why the two were leaving.
Corva made $181,000 a year, and Aulenback was taking home more than $150,000 annually, accord- ing to recent records.
A board member at Gloria Wise, which is struggling to stay afloat and has scaled back its programs for kids, has told The Post that the board was hoodwinked by Rosen into making the highly unusual loans to Air America.
The Boys & Girls Club is funded almost entirely from grants and government contracts.
"We're not commenting on anything right now because of the delicate nature of negotiations to get the money back" from Air America, said spokesman Jim Grossman.
The left-wing radio network, which showcases Al Franken, last Friday made a $50,000 repayment on the loan to an escrow account controlled by the station's lawyer.
"The [city] Department of Investigation advised Air America to repay $875,000 into an escrow account from which no money can be disbursed without our approval," said DOI spokeswoman Emily Gest.
"Air America has not followed that recommendation."
But an Air America official told The Post yesterday that both sides had agreed to a payment plan months ago and that they were on schedule with their payments.
That was news to the Boys & Girls Club. "Air America has agreed in principle to give the money, but nothing has been finalized yet," Grossman said yesterday.
"They haven't agreed how and when to do it."
Along with the DOI,state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer also opened an investigation into the case.
A representative from Spitzer's office visited the Boys & Girls Club last week, but so far Air America has not been contacted by the AG's Office, a network official said yesterday