Investigation finds insufficient evidence to support complaints against Rick Singh

ORANGE COUNTY – An investigative review of allegations accusing Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh of corrupt practices found insufficient evidence to confirm Singh committed any wrongdoings.

The complaints were made by top-level OCPA employees Laverne McGee and Aisha Hassan. Hassan and McGee accused Singh of mistreating female employees, altering financial audit and travel documents, authorizing improper expenditures and awarding contracts in return for campaign contributions, according to the review.

McGee, who was hired in January 2015 and served as Singh’s communications director, and Hassan, who was hired in October 2014 as Singh’s finance director, together sent an email to Singh June 22, 2017, detailing their complaints, the report stated.

According to an official statement by the OCPA office, both employees were placed on paid leave on June 26, 2017, and then put on unpaid leave May 11.

The review, performed by retired Judge Belvin Perry, took 10 months to complete because of the scope of allegations, coordination of witness interviews, document examinations and scheduling demands.

“A thorough, external investigation into the allegations was performed by an independent, third party,” OCPA officials said in a statement relayed by public relations firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies, which is working for OCPA on a temporary basis. “Perry carefully reviewed the facts, examined the evidence and interviewed OCPA’s Rick Singh, numerous OCPA employees and vendors under oath. He also interviewed the two complainants, who requested their statements not be under oath.”

In addition to interviewing McGee and Hassan, Perry interviewed 11 others, nine of which were OCPA staff, according to the report. Perry emphasized that complainants McGee and Hassan did not make their statements under oath — a decision which played a role in determining his conclusions, he said in the report.

According to the report, five types of allegations were made against Singh, and the allegations regarding document falsification and the creation of a hostile work environment were found to be unsubstantiated by the testimonies provided by Singh’s other employees and by the findings of audits conducted by the Office of the County Comptroller.

Other allegations, Perry asserts, could not be substantiated.

“It is this writer’s opinion that a number of the allegations were based upon the fact that Ms. McGee and Ms. Hassan had a very different view of what the best practices, policies and procedures of the OCPA should have been,” Perry wrote. “While the policies, practices and procedures of any governmental office ... are governed by state and county laws and rules, a number of practices are left up to the discretion of the elected official.”

Multiple attempts to reach Jill Schwartz, a Winter Park lawyer representing McGee and Hassan, were unsuccessful.