Sometimes the truth and exposure of corruption arrive from the most unexpected places.
In this case, the South Shore Press columnist who first exposed troubling financial irregularities at Buffalo’s Seneca Babcock Community Association was our very own George Santos.
You know him well. George's own past has made him one of the most interesting, thought-provoking, polarizing, and controversial figures in American politics.
Sure, we get it, that irony is impossible to ignore.
But that interesting irony does not make facts disappear. As the old political saying goes, "Facts are stubborn things."
Whatever one thinks about Santos, the underlying reporting about Seneca Babcock is accurate and deeply troubling.
Public records reviewed by the South Shore Press revealed years of missing required nonprofit filings, including gaps in annual audited financial statements that charities receiving public funding are legally required to submit.
One audit attached to a late filing was so severe that the accounting firm issued a rare “disclaimer of opinion,” stating that financial records simply did not exist to verify the organization’s finances.
This is New York State's version of the Somali Learing Center scandal all over again. Santos flipped the switch, turned on the light, and exposed fraud, waste, and abuse that existed only in the cover of darkness, causing the non-profit to collapse spectacularly.
Then came the most alarming development.
Within 24 hours of the Santos story becoming public, the nonprofit’s longtime Executive Director resigned and the organization announced it was shutting down most of its programs.
The consequences are devastating.
Seneca Babcock is not just a neighborhood recreation center. It is a critical social services hub for New York State's second largest city.
Its expansive network includes daycare centers serving working families, many of them single mothers, in communities already suffering from a severe childcare shortage.
The organization also provides daily meals and programming for senior citizens who depend on those services.
During a recent radio interview, I explained how personal this issue is for me and my family. My brother and his wife donated $3 million of their own money to help build the new Seneca Babcock Community Center.
My late mother’s name is on that building. I grew up in that neighborhood and know firsthand how important these programs are for struggling families.
That is why what happened here cannot simply be dismissed as sloppy bookkeeping.
When millions of taxpayer dollars are involved and financial records appear to be missing, the situation demands more than speculation. It demands answers and accountability.
The only credible way forward is a full forensic audit and a federal criminal investigation into the finances of the Seneca Babcock Community Association.
Such an investigation would determine whether this collapse resulted from gross incompetence or something far more serious involving fraud, waste, or abuse of public funds.
When non-profit fraud was exposed in Minnesota, politicians desperately tried to cover up the wrongdoing. Only after the Feds and Congress got involved did an unprecedented corruption scandal come to light.
This leads to one burning, unanswered question: if just one non-profit agency in Buffalo is guilty of failing to file federal taxes and neglecting to file annual audited financial statements as required by law, how many more across New York State are there?
If nothing improper occurred, a federal investigation would clear those involved.
But if wrongdoing occurred, the people of New York State, from Brookhaven to Buffalo, especially the seniors, children, and families who relied on these programs, deserve accountability.