Shaq promoter in thicket of failed deals

Under investigation for a failed basketball promotion, Darryl Madison also had trouble with a state contract.

By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 5, 2002

TAMPA -- Whether he was promoting a celebrity event to bring Shaquille O'Neal to Tampa or vying for a contract with a state agency in Tallahassee, Darryl Madison made some tall promises.

He promised that Shaq would appear at a basketball camp, a dinner with the governor and a celebrity game. He said local charities would get a cut of the revenues.

But Shaq never showed. Ticket buyers demanded refunds. And a literacy nonprofit ended up picking up an $8,900 tab for the governor's dinner.

But even as the Florida Attorney General conducts an inquiry into the Shaq weekend, Madison is still blaming O'Neal. He said Wednesday he will get a new commitment from the NBA superstar or will head to court.

But Madison also had problems delivering on his promises for a state contract with the Florida Commission on Human Relations, a state board that investigates civil rights complaints.

Madison boasted that he had New York investors ready to invest $1-million in his computer services company, Provider Technologies Inc. He said his company had the technical know-how to handle a contract worth as much as $100,000 to create a case tracking system for the commission.

The New York investors never stepped forward. Provider Technologies won the state contract, but at a drastically reduced scope. It was later fired.

The Florida Inspector General's Office stepped in to investigate the contract. It concluded that Human Relations Commissioner George Farrell exerted improper influence on behalf of Provider Technologies.

Farrell, a Tierra Verde business consultant and former Washington D.C. police officer, was a registered lobbyist for Provider Technologies. In the midst of the investigation, he resigned his commission post.

Now Madison finds himself in hot water stemming from loans he obtained by pledging as collateral his company's $22,800 contract with the Human Relations Commission.

Cecil Howard, general counsel for the commission, said he knows of no rules that allow its contracts to be used as collateral for loans.

But Madison's company got three of them: one from a California company called Alliance Financial Capital, and two more from the Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp., a local nonprofit.

Last month, Tampa police charged Madison with forgery in connection with the Alliance loan, alleging he forged the name of former partner Robert Little on loan papers.

Alliance has sued Madison and his firm, saying it is owed $31,034.

Madison also pledged the state contract to get loans of $20,000 and $5,000 from the Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp., according to Frances Wimberly, the nonprofit's president.

Those loans were prepared and underwritten by Veatrice Farrell, the wife of George Farrell.

The nonprofit apparently knew nothing about other loans secured by the state contract, or about George Farrell's involvement with Madison's company or Madison's arrest on forgery charges.

"I'm sitting here flabbergasted at what you're telling me," Wimberly told the St. Petersburg Times.

Wimberly forwarded the Provider Technologies loan file to the nonprofit's attorney for review. Citing client confidentiality, she declined to say if the loans were being repaid.

Veatrice Farrell also declined comment, citing confidentiality concerns.

The inspector general's investigation involving Madison's contract, and George Farrell's relation to it, began in December with a complaint by Derick Daniel, executive director of the commission on Human Relations.

Farrell, 41, was appointed to the commission by Gov. Jeb Bush in Nov. 1999.

A few months after the appointment, Farrell contacted Daniel and said Madison's Provider Technologies would be "a good choice" to develop software for a case tracking system, the Inspector General's report says.

A few weeks later, in August, 2000, Farrell registered his GTF & Associates as a lobbyist for Provider Technologies.

Later the same month, Farrell sent Madison a GTF invoice for $5,000. The services invoiced included two meetings with the Commission on Human Relations.

It is unclear if Farrell ever received the $5,000.

Little, the former Provider Technologies officer, said Farrell later called and asked him to tear up the $5,000 invoice. But Little also told investigators that Madison withdrew $5,000 in cash from the company account for unspecified reasons.

Asked about the $5,000, Farrell told the Times he had "no recollection" of the invoice and could not recall if he had been paid.

Madison also said he did not remember if Farrell was ever paid the $5,000.

Concerned about the close relationship between Farrell and Provider Technologies, Daniel sought an ethics opinion. He was advised that the relationship posed a conflict of interest. Yet Farrell continued to push for Provider even after being handed the opinion, the inspector general's report says.

As commission staffers began to find Provider's work inadequate, Farrell interceded, attending meetings uninvited and at one point threatening Daniel by exclaiming, "I'll have your job!"

Farrell also came forward when Alliance Capital contacted the commission about Madison's loan. Farrell told the California company "the work was fine," the investigative report says. Yet the commission finally canceled Madison's contract after another vendor quit, citing Provider Technologies' ineptitude and "lack of professionalism," according to records.

The Inspector General concluded its report about two weeks after Farrell resigned from the commission. While the investigation substantiated conflict of interest and improper use of a public position charges against Farrell, it is unclear if the state Ethics Commission is pursuing the matter.

Farrell insists his resignation had nothing to do with the investigation.

Madison blames his problems involving the state contract on Daniel's squabble with Farrell.

-- Researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Jeff Testerman can be reached at (813) 226-3422, or by e-mail at testerman@sptimes.com.

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