Lessons in Whistleblowing: How the ACORN 8 Triumphed in the Face of Adversity

The very public decline and fall of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) involved bitter partisan battles, allegations of voter fraud and a secret video recording. But it is also a story of heroes — namely a group of eight people —  who at great personal sacrifice exposed embezzlement at the community-based advocacy group.

It is that clutch of brave souls — better known as the ACORN 8 — that wins this year’s Sentinel Award, which the ACFE bestows annually on a person or group of people who, without regard to personal or professional consequences, publicly discloses wrongdoing in business or government.

One of the leaders of the ACORN 8, Marcel Reid, and Michael McCray, its national spokesperson, accepted the award at this year’s ACFE Global Fraud Conference on behalf of the group, which now engages in whistleblower rights and advocacy for low- and moderate-income communities.

Aside from Reid, the other original members were Karen Inman, Fannie Brown, Coya Mobley, Adrianna Jones, Yvonne Stafford, Louise Davis and Robert Smith.

“I want to accept the award on behalf of myself and all the members of the ACORN 8, those noted and unnoted, but most especially for the people of ACORN, the people who had a dream and who worked so hard for so long to make things different, for those people who started to have a sense of hope again and found they had that hope taken from them,” Reid said.

Indeed, despite the controversies surrounding ACORN, the organization had done a lot of good work for the downtrodden and neglected since its creation in the 1970s. So, it came as a bitter disappointment to people who worked there when they discovered in the late 2000s that the founder’s brother had covered up a multi-million embezzlement scheme over eight years.

“I was deeply wounded when I found out ACORN did not live up to its mission and when I found out that (it) had been misusing funds,” Reid said.

It was then that Reid, along with Inman, brought together the group of ACORN insiders and solicited the help of McCray, who was then a member of ACORN and already had experience as a whistleblower.

Years before, while working for U.S. President Bill Clinton’s administration, McCray had questioned a $40 million grant for an empowerment zone. His appeals fell on deaf ears, and he was eventually ostracized in his workplace.

McCray eventually left Washington and landed in Atlanta where, as general counsel for a small boutique hotel, he was introduced to ACORN, which helped him fight against predatory lending and mortgage fraud. He eventually joined ACORN, where he worked with Reid to bring greater awareness about whistleblowing and mortgage fraud.

“Marcel came to me because she knew of my background and my experience in whistleblowing,” McCray said. “Once again, this was another organization that was supposed to support low-income people, but it was actually exploiting them.”

A common bond

McCray and Reid also had a common bond. They both came from disadvantaged backgrounds and understood the people they were trying to help, and why it was so wrong to embezzle funds meant for them.

Reid grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Compton. “Everything I learned about other people I learned in Compton; how it was considered unworthy to take from people who don’t have,” Reid says.

“All that I learned in Compton, although I understand that everyone believes that is something no one in Compton understands. Even in a place where you discard people, there are wonderful lessons and wonderful people.”

McCray’s hometown is Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which he recalls was named the worst place to live in America for two years in a row. “It was the Arkansas river delta, where people are poor and the soil is rich, and that creates a paradox,” he said.

When the embezzlement at ACORN was discovered, the group of eight banded together and went on a publicity campaign to make their case. But when they called for a forensic examination and independent audit, they were expelled from the organization.

“I don’t know how volunteers can be fired, but they were,” said Reid. “It is very difficult to blow the whistle and it is very difficult to recover after you have.”

Complicating the process was a political firestorm that erupted around ACORN. Some representatives had accused the advocacy group of voter-registration fraud and a conservative activist secretly videoed and released heavily edited footage of ACORN workers who appeared to give advice about setting up a prostitution ring.

One of those employees later reportedly won a $100,000 lawsuit against the activist for misrepresenting the conversation, but at the time the controversy led to ACORN losing federal funding and eventually to its demise in the U.S.

How do you characterize a whistleblower? McCray asks. Is it someone who whistle blows after a crime has been discovered and they have already lost their job? “We define whistleblower as the person who does the right thing when they have something to lose,” he said.

“At the time there was some confusion (as) other people … were also attacking ACORN for political reasons. But the ACORN 8 were the people on the board, who had the responsibility, knew the truth and told the truth when they all had something to lose. That is why we are very appreciative of this recognition and this award in particular.”