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Oklahomans for Equality (OKEQ) Whispers to IRS About Large Embezzlement
Two Long-Time OKEQ Leaders Departed Around Time Crime Was Discovered
Tulsa Police Records Show Many OKEQ Reports of Victimhood But No Report of Missing Funds
Update on OKEQ’s Double-Dipping of Covid PPP Funds
From Solar Panels to LGBT Advocacy: Grifting Public Funds is Nothing New for a George Kaiser Linked Organization
Don’t Look to AG Dark Money Drummond to Investigate OKEQ (or Big Cannabis or the Tribes)
Oklahomans for Equality (OKEQ) Whispers to IRS About Large Embezzlement
In previous reporting, The V1SUT Vantage covered the involvement of a Tulsa-based, LGBT advocacy group in several concerning activities, including a sizeable embezzlement. Oklahomans for Equality (OKEQ), a non-profit connected to Tulsa’s leftist billionaire club through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman family, Bank of Oklahoma (BOK) founder George Kaiser, and the Sandford and Irene Burnstein family, quietly reported an embezzlement of approximately $160,000 within a 2020 IRS tax form.
Despite the mention that ‘an investigation is in progress’ on the 9090 form, this publication could find no reporting concerning the crime and filed a public records request with the Tulsa Police Department. That request was recently fulfilled and confirms that no report of the crime was ever made to local law enforcement by OKEQ or any of its representatives.
OKEQ was willing to disclose the embezzlement to the IRS for a $160K write-off, yet failed to follow through with any legal investigation or prosecution.
The facts indicate advocates for alternative sexualities are not always the victims. Sometimes, they are the criminals. Yet somehow, they are not to be investigated, arrested, prosecuted or even reported to law enforcement for stealing both taxpayer and privately donated funds. In another glaring example of identity over true justice, sexual preference, as long as it isn’t heterosexual, can now put some above the law.
Two Long-Time OKEQ Leaders Departed Around Time Crime Was Discovered
Both former OKEQ treasurer Paul M. Allen and CEO/Executive Director Toby Q. Jenkins left their positions within the organization following the embezzlement.
OKEQ’s Former Treasurer Paul Allen is Playing Hard-to-Find for Kaiser’s BOK Following Embezzlement
Former OKEQ treasurer Paul Allen is MIA following embezzlement.
Following the discovery that $160K was missing from OKEQ coffers, Allen quietly exited OKEQ’s board and appears to be making himself difficult to find these days. In January of this year, BOK Financial, along with the Oklahoma Tax Commission, filed to foreclose on the home and five (5) acres in Bixby, Oklahoma, owned by Allen and his wife, Darla Jean (Cox) Allen, but the court has not yet been able to locate Allen to serve him.
Predictably, in September of 2022, OKEQ filled the vacant treasurer’s position with an employee of its leftist funder George Kaiser, billionaire and founder of Bank of Oklahoma (BOK). Julie Chase, Senior Vice President of Special Assets at BOK Financial, now handles finances for OKEQ.
Tulsa LGBT Icon Toby Q. Jenkins Swears He’ll Stay with OKEQ Forever then Promptly Retires Following Embezzlement
In mid-2019, Jenkins told NBC News he would never leave the fight from his desk at OKEQ then soon announced his retirement, stepping down from his role as CEO/Executive Director on July 1, 2022, after 25 years with the organization.
Toby Jenkins receiving proclamation from Tulsa City Council as he retired from OKEQ.
Jenkins was given a big farewell with accolades and fundraising for the cause in his honor but there was no mention of the missing $160K. The Tulsa City Council even gave Jenkins a personal proclamation as they also approved a bigger-than-ever Tulsa Pride parade for that year.
Tulsa Police Records Show Many OKEQ Reports of Victimhood But No Report of Missing Funds
A public records request was submitted to the Tulsa Police Department (TPD) on May 17, 2023, for the following: “all incident and report information related to any crime reported by any representative of either Oklahomans for Equality or Dennis R. Neill Equality Center (related non-profit organizations), 1/1/2020 to present. Also, any reports or cases related to Paul M. Allen or Toby Q. Jenkins.”
The results of that request reveal OKEQ and its related entities and representatives filed nine reports to TPD during the period involving and following the embezzlement: four threat reports, two vandalism reports, two larceny reports and one report of a child in need of services. Three of the nine police reports made were by either Paul Allen or Toby Jenkins.
Allen reported himself as the victim of a threat (11/16/2020) that was dismissed by TPD as “UNFOUNDED”:
Allen also reported himself as the victim of theft involving a vehicle accessory valued at $2,000 (1/26/2021):
Jenkins reported a threat against OKEQ (4/16/2021):
No police reports were made involving any embezzlement or wrongdoing of any kind by any OKEQ representative. Always the victim, yet someone inside OKEQ is approximately $160,000 richer.
Did OKEQ Double-Dip Covid PPP Funds Using Two Names Just in Time for an Embezzlement?
From April 2020 to February 2021, during the same time period as the embezzling of over $160K by someone at OKEQ, the organization received two loans (now forgiven) through the federal Payroll Protection Program (Covid PPP funds).
All PPP funds, totaling $128,988, went to OKEQ at their Tulsa address, but the applications were made through BOK Financial under two slightly different entity names, OKLAHOMANS FOR EQUALITY and OKLAHOMANS FOR EQUALITY INC.
The same Employer Identification Number (EIN) (#73-1300864) is given on both PPP applications which identify similar numbers of employees. Given Oklahoma Secretary of State (OSOS) records show one of these entities as being in Tulsa and the other being registered by bankruptcy attorney William Mark Bonney in Muskogee, it was worth asking some questions.
Bonney responded by email to an inquiry concerning the relationship between the two entities with the following, in part:
“The Oklahoma Secretary of State maintains databases on corporate entities and also individuals and organizations who solicit funds for charity. I believe that you did a search and found two listings—one for the not for profit corporation and one for the charitable solicitation registration. There are not two separate entities. There is only one.” – Mark Bonney (William Mark Bonney)
The organization’s registered agent says OKEQ is one entity, and it appears that one entity claimed itself as two separate organizations to defraud taxpayers of $63,872 in PPP loan forgiveness.
Both loan applications were handled by Kaiser’s BOK Financial at a 5% processing fee, also at taxpayer expense. And now the total amount in public funds received totaling $128,988, plus around $30,000 in private donations, walked out of OKEQ’s doors with someone. No investigation needed. The Alphabet Mafia strikes again.
From Solar Panels to LGBT Advocacy: Grifting Public Funds is Nothing New for a George Kaiser Organization
This latest embezzlement of public funds is small compared to what other George Kaiser linked organizations have grifted from government coffers in the past. This publication recently reminded readers about Kaiser’s past endeavors, including the Obama-Solyndra scandal involving campaign donation bundling and a now defunct solar energy company. Taxpayers lost $535 million:
George Kaiser – Forbes #76 of wealthiest Americans. Tulsa banking and oil billionaire. Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation, part owner of the Oklahoma Thunder NBA team and big Democrat donor. Kaiser was involved in donation-bundling for Barack Obama, a scheme that funnels taxpayer money to politically like-minded business elites who return the favor with campaign donations through their “foundations”. Kaiser’s foundation owned one-third of the now bankrupt, solar panel company Solyndra, which received a now defaulted $535 million loan from Obama’s Energy Department. The George Kaiser Family Foundation has donated over $1 billion with a focus on early childhood education, giving Kaiser great influence over Oklahoma public education.
BOK founder George Kaiser.
Don’t Look to AG Dark Money Drummond to Investigate OKEQ (or Big Cannabis or the Tribes)
Perhaps Oklahoma’s new Attorney General Gentner Drummond should look into PPP fraud and embezzlement at OKEQ. Don’t hold your breath. George Kaiser gave the maximum allowable to Drummond’s campaign, and that’s just the money voters get to see.
Dark Money Drummond answers to many beyond the electorate and is unlikely to act against his funders and handlers. For a complete recap of AG Drummond’s conflicts, see this publication’s previous reporting from the 2022 election cycle:
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