Following authentication by Campus Pride board members of leaked documents dropped off anonymously at the Qnotes/ White Rabbit location, social media exploded with reaction to the organization’s former CEO Shane Windmeyer’s admission that he misused an unknown amount of funding that far exceeded $100,000.
After the first story broke, Campus Pride board members Candis Cox and Christopher Bylone requested a second interview to talk more and in-depth about the agreement that had been reached between the organization and its former CEO.
“We want to clear the air,” said Cox. “Set the record straight.”
While it remains unknown who was responsible for dropping off the envelope of copied documents, once they were authenticated, numerous stories began to surface and other individuals came forward on social media with their own stories about experiences with Windmeyer.
To be clear, this reporter made numerous attempts to contact Windmeyer, through different phone numbers, including a phone that was confirmed by board members as his personal mobile device. Messages were left, but calls were not returned.
According to Cox, that’s been the case for Campus Pride, as well.
“He hasn’t returned our calls,” Cox told Qnotes. “And he has hired a legal firm to represent him, so I expect most of his communication will be through his attorney.”
As mentioned in our previous article, Campus Pride board members confirmed that Windmeyer, who had agreed to pay the organization $100,000 in a settlement, had in fact made an initial payment of $50,000. Since that time Cox has confirmed Windmeyer has made an additional payment of $2,000.
Both Cox and Bylone have indicated there are likely other financial misdeeds but they have not, as of yet, been able to ascertain the magnitude of exactly how much money was misused and what it was misused for.
In an additional interview, Bylone confirmed the existence of a COVID-related and government funded small business loan, but the amount is unknown and specifically what it was used for remains to be discovered.
“We have no way of knowing because he changed banks and didn’t keep any records,” said Cox.
Board members initially confirmed the existence of a USBank account with a balance of just $2,000 available at that time for total operations of Campus Pride.
Additionally, Windmeyer’s payment of $2,000 was reportedly drawn on a First Citizen’s account; while he announced previously on social media that he had maintained four bank accounts for over 20 years at Bank of America. With so many accounts spread across multiple banks and the exorbitant cost of a finance records deep dive, it becomes clear why Campus Pride was unable to hire a financial forensic investigator.
Despite Windmeyer’s admission of misuse of funds and the now public awareness of the financial scandal, it appears there has been no effort by federal authorities to investigate the case any further, though internet chatter shows continued speculation about when and if that hammer might drop.
In a separate development, Windmeyer is currently facing charges of fraud from the state of North Carolina, reportedly for failure to pay for unemployment insurance to cover employees of Campus Pride.
According to Mecklenburg district court records, the offense date purportedly occurred December 5, 2023 and was filed January 4, 2024. An initial hearing was held January 24, but was rescheduled for March 27 and then on the same date rescheduled again for July 29.
Despite Windmeyer’s ongoing legal battle, his fall from grace with LGBTQ+ leaders and activists in the Charlotte Metro area and his termination from Campus Pride, he remains active with his drag alter ego Buff Faye, at least in some locations.
While there are no scheduled appearances by Buff Faye in Charlotte Metro, there are performances scheduled in other areas – February 4 at the Atlanta Eagle in Atlanta, Georgia – and an upcoming competition in an online drag contest touted as “Queen of Drag: the Drag Competition of the Year,” which will reportedly be available for viewing sometime in the fall of 2024. It appears promotion of the event has been challenging: response to social posts touting the event have been regularly met with negative comments regarding Windmeyer/Buff Faye, and parties responsible for the promotional post are continually removing comments they deem detrimental.
An interesting footnote: multiple drag performers in the Charlotte Metro scene have come forth on social media to speak out about unprofessional behavior by Buff Faye/Windmeyer. It has also been pointed out that in late December 2023, she was selling off costuming on Facebook Marketplace.
This is incredibly sad. At least Raleigh hired a forensic accountant and attempted to explain Lindsey’s theft at their Center.
Saddest thing is in these past months Campus Pride still has not updated the web site (to remove him) or updated donors on the future ?