Ex-official of KC development agency stole $2M, lied about his background: lawsuit

Lee Brown stole millions from Kansas City’s primary economic development organization after he became its controller, a position he secured after “grossly” misrepresenting his background and hiding his criminal history, according to a lawsuit.

The Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, or EDC, filed suit this month in Jackson County against Brown, who it says obtained his job using fake identity information, and former interim chief executive T’Risa McCord, who oversaw his 2015 hiring.

Brown, who died last year, defrauded the EDC out of at least $739,000 in salary and executed “the theft of” more than $2.3 million, for a total loss of about $3.1 million, according to the lawsuit that is seeking to recover the money.

“Between outright theft and the creation of false jobs and bogus employment records, Brown appropriated the funds to his personal use and the use of his family, buying cars, clothes, and jewelry, and paying personal expenses,” the EDC’s lawyers wrote.

In a statement, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he was “disappointed” to learn that former senior EDC leaders stole from the city and taxpayers, and then “lied about their misconduct for several years.”

“Once learning of their bad acts, city leaders working with the EDC board hired independent counsel to uncover all situations of wrongdoing and has now launched legal action to recover any misappropriated taxpayer funds,” he said, adding that under new leadership, the EDC is committed to “complete transparency” as it supports Kansas City businesses.

McCord could not immediately be reached for comment. She was ousted in 2021 after she made “what appear to be questionable decisions” with EDC funds, which included payments to her husband, KCUR reported at the time.

When Brown sought the controller job, he indicated that he had earned a law degree from Howard University in 1995. He worked as a tax manager from 1992 to 2001, then as a controller for a different company since 2002, he said. He provided a Missouri license to assure his future employer that he was a certified public accountant.

“In reality,” the EDC’s lawyers wrote, “nearly every item on his application was false.”

The Missouri Board of Accountancy license number he gave, for example, was allegedly for an “unknowing” person — whose last name was also Brown.

Employers frequently rely on outside groups like the National Student Clearinghouse to verify degree credentials of applicants.

But Brown’s file showed no evidence that McCord tried to verify his credentials, the lawsuit said. She “well knew” that the EDC’s controller would have “wide discretionary access” over its finances, its attorneys wrote.

In paperwork for a background check, Brown gave the name “Raphael L. Brown” and said he lived in Lenexa; in his resume, he was Lee Brown from Kansas City. McCord did not make him provide his government-issued identification, the lawsuit alleged.

A background screening vendor noticed that the Social Security number provided by Brown did not match his name. He gave the same number when asked about it. On a third request, Brown changed one digit — and this time, it matched a “Raphael B. Brown” in Lenexa, the EDC’s lawyers said.

Despite issues with his Social Security number, Brown was offered, and ultimately took, the controller job for a salary of $85,000. He held the job for about six years. By 2020, his salary had “increased by some $52,000 to $137,000 per year,” the EDC’s lawyers wrote.

Had Brown’s background been investigated, it would have turned up “numerous felony charges and convictions,” as well as civil judgments, according to the lawsuit.

In one case, from 1999, Brown pleaded guilty to a felony of unlawful use of a credit card.

In another, Brown was charged in 2009 with felony stealing in Jackson County after he allegedly placed “personal charges” onto a different employee’s card while he worked at Union Station. He served 120 days and was placed on two years probation.

The lawsuit lists other cases against Brown, including one for forgery that landed him behind bars for two years and six months after he violated terms of his probation. The Missouri Department of Revenue also won judgments against him for back taxes.

The EDC is a city-contracted umbrella organization that administers a variety of development and incentive programs for new and expanding businesses. The agency oversees several sub entities like the Kansas City Tax Increment Finance Commission, the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority and the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority.

Those agencies, tasked with promoting new development, are also entrusted with the authority to grant tax breaks and incentives that can persist for decades.

After nearly three years of interim directors, the EDC in June hired as its permanent CEO Tracey Lewis, a former vice president of Commerce Trust.

As for Brown, he died in April at the age of 52. He left behind a wife and three children, whose names were redacted in the lawsuit.

In his obituary, which is written in the first person, Brown said he loved cars and hoped people noticed his clothing, saying he had to be “’suited and booted’ and smelling good every day.”

The Star’s Kevin Hardy contributed to this report.