Saint Augustine's signed a land deal with a developer now charged with federal fraud

Saint Augustine's University, a financially troubled Raleigh HBCU, entered a land-lease deal with the sports development company 50 Plus 1 — dated November 17, 2024 according to the school's own 2024 audit. In January 2025 the State Attorney General's office raised concerns about the deal, and it did not go through.

In September 2026 the owner of 50 Plus 1 was arrested on federal fraud and money laundering charges. At an October 2026 bankruptcy hearing, the judge pressed board chairwoman Sophie Gibson on how the university found and vetted the company. Gibson said she joined after the proposed agreement had 'already been rejected by the Attorney General' — but testified she had been on the board since February or March of 2024, nearly a year earlier. Asked about the discrepancy afterward, she said she later realised she had the dates wrong and declined further comment.

The stakes are the school's ground itself: the land is the primary collateral for the university's emergency lender, Self-Help Ventures Fund. The university filed Chapter 11 and lost its accreditation at the end of the last school year, and it is not offering classes this fall. Bankruptcy documents show it owes federal agencies millions of dollars, and federal attorneys have subpoenaed its CFO, Gwendolyn Kea, and sponsored-programs director Angela Sousa over how federal grant money was spent.

The university committed the land that secures its emergency funding to a developer it cannot show it vetted.

The counterparty's owner was arrested on federal fraud and money laundering charges within two years of the deal.

The board chair's account of when she joined and when the deal died contradicted her own testimony and the audit's November 17, 2024 date.

When the collateral is the campus itself, a counterparty nobody can vouch for is not a rescue — the vetting a board skips is the testimony its chair gives later.

At the same October 2026 hearing, the university sought approval to hire Avison Young to redevelop or sell its land — a $50,000 retainer and commissions up to $7.5 million. Both Self-Help and the bankruptcy administrator objected, calling the engagement 'unfavorable' and 'premature': the lender said the $7.5 million commission cap would eat up most of the profit on any land sale, and the administrator said the scope depended on strategic decisions the school had not yet made. Internal and external investigations have been underway since 2025, per the board chair.