How Did Supreme Felons, Inc. Spend $527K in Public Funding? A2Indy’s FOIAs Trigger Threat

by P.D. Lesko

Supreme Felons is not a public body and was therefore not subject to the FOIA pursuant to OAG, 1989-1990, No 6563, p 27 (January 26, 1989).–Billy Cole, President, Supreme Felons, Inc., in an email to The Ann Arbor Independent.

On Sept. 11 and Sept. 13, 2024, The Ann Arbor Independent newspaper requested a variety of public records, including financial and tax records, that will document how Supreme Felons, Inc. president Billy Cole spent the $527,000 he received from the County in 2023.

In July 2022, when the Washtenaw County Commissioners, on the recommendation of the County Administrator Greg Dill, and the Dir. of the County’s DEI Dept., Alize Asberry Payne, handed a $1.2 million grant to a non-profit headed by a registered sex offender and a murderer on parole from a life sentence plus 40 years, there was outrage throughout the local non-profit community. The head of one local non-profit said in 2022, “that money will disappear.” According to allegations made by Supreme Felons, Inc. whistleblowers who contacted the newspaper, that is exactly what is happening.

The Supreme Felons, Inc. insiders, horrified by what is seen as pervasive, dangerous and unchecked criminality within the organization, among a host of allegations say Billy Cole has stolen much of the public money he was given ($527,000 in 2023) through a variety of scams, the use of “subcontractors,” skimming, kickback schemes, state and federal tax evasion, theft, and falsification of records submitted to the County. Supreme Felons insiders say Cole brags that he is “untouchable,” protected by the police (Washtenaw County Sheriff), the County Prosecutor (Chief Asst. Prosecutor Victoria Burton-Harris) and politicians (his “friends,” members of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners).

According to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act: “A private, non-governmental body may be a public body subject to FOIA if it receives fifty percent or more of its funding through State or local governmental grants or subsidies.” The $1.2 million awarded to Supreme Felons, Inc. in July 2022 was a local governmental grant and approved by the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners. The Michigan Freedom of Information Act, in defining which entities are “public bodies,” also states: “Any other body which is created by state or local authority, or which is primarily funded by or through state or local authority.”

Supreme Felons, Inc. meets both of the Statute’s descriptions of a “public body.”

In response to the insiders’ allegations, on Sept. 11 and 13, 2024 The Ann Arbor Independent submitted two Freedom of Information Act requests to Supreme Felons, Inc. president Billy Cole. Cole, a murderer sentenced to a life sentence plus 40 years by a Washtenaw County judge. Cole was released on parole in August 2019 and subsequently hired by the County Sheriff into a job classified as “law enforcement.”

Cole acknowledged receipt of both FOIA requests in writing. Then, Cole sent replies in which he claimed, “Supreme Felons is not a public body and was therefore not subject to the FOIA pursuant to OAG, 1989-1990, No 6563, p 27 (January 26, 1989).” This assertion overlooks the fact Supreme Felons, Inc. is almost wholly funded from grant money from a local authority.

In Cole’s requests for funds from the County Community Priority Fund, records show he asked for tens of thousands of dollars for a legal advisor, accounting support, accounting software, and a Financial Manager. Yet, Cole responded to the newspaper’s FOIA requests himself. The newspaper appealed his denial of the Sept. 11 request. Cole did not reply to the newspaper’s Sept. 13 public records request and did not reply to the newspaper’s appeal of his denial of the Sept. 11, 2024 public records request.

If a public body subject to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act ignores a public records request and/or refuses to hand over public records absent a legal explanation support by the language of the Statute, the only recourse open to requesters is to sue, beginning in the local Circuit Court. There, any requester may petition a judge to compel release of the requested records. In Michigan, incarcerated individuals may not make FOIA requests or file appeals of denials.

“If you choose to proceed with a case, I will file a counterclaim for abuse of process and attorney’s fees,” Cole wrote on Sept. 19, once again claiming his non-profit is not subject to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. In that email he once again reiterated Supreme Felons, Inc. is a “nonprofit.”

Cole then suggested the newspaper obtain the requested records from Washtenaw County: “In the article you authored, you noted that you requested records from governing bodies subject to FOIA, meaning you already have a clear avenue for obtaining the information you seek.”

The State’s FOIA Statute does not require a requester obtain the public records of one public body from another public body. Federal tax laws require Supreme Felons, Inc. to maintain and file all their own payroll records and tax documents with the IRS on a quarterly and annual basis.

The Ann Arbor Independent is presently suing Washtenaw County to compel the release of the background check done on a Sheriff’s deputy, D’Angelo McWilliams, hired in May 2019 while under investigation by the Ypsilanti Police Dept. for sex crimes. In Aug. 2020, McWilliams was charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct. Both the Sheriff and his Dir. of Community Engagement (Derrick Jackson), at a press conference, told the media and the public, “the department” was unaware of McWilliams’s “crimes” prior to hiring him. The background check was done by the Sheriff’s “Special Investigations” Unit. It was the same unit that conducted a background check on County DEI Dir. Alize Asberry Payne prior to her hire. At the time she was interviewing, Asberry Payne was the subject of an arrest warrant issued by a California Superior Court judge related to financial crimes.

In an email sent on Sept. 18, Cole wrote, “990s are publicly available on the IRS website which is how we share information with the public.” This is untrue. The non-profit’s 2023 990 has not been filed, and the non-profit’s 2021-2022 990 postcard information is not available to the public on the non-profit’s website or through the IRS.

Billy Cole, together with a registered sex offender named Alan K. Fuqua, registered Supreme Felons, Inc. as a non-profit Michigan Corporation in 2020. Text messages between losing Sheriff’s candidate Derrick Jackson (Community Engagement Dir. for Sheriff Jerry Clayton), Jackson’s employee (seven-time felon) Marvin Gundy, Cole, Foley and Fuqua revealed it is Jackson who controls Supreme Felons, Inc. It was Jackson who dictated who would be the president of Supreme Felons, Inc. (Fuqua), VP (Cole) and “Managing Dir. (Foley). In April 2022, Fuqua and Cole applied for a $1.2 million grant from the Washtenaw County Community Priority Fund. The money was awarded by the County Commissioners in July 2022.

After The A2Indy revealed the County Commissioners had handed $1.2 million in public money to a murderer on parole and to a registered sex offender who served 17 years in prison for child rape to work with children, Cole turned to WEMU to explain that he’d had no idea about Fuqua’s “crimes” before teaming up to create Supreme Felons, Inc. When the incorporation documents were signed by both Cole and Fuqua, Fuqua was still in prison. Fuqua, made President of Supreme Felons, Inc. by Derrick Jackson, was then “disappeared” from Supreme Felons, Inc.

The funds handed to Supreme Felons, Inc. come from the County’s Community Priority Fund. In answer to a question about who oversees the fund, County Administrator Greg Dill said “The DEI office.” That office was overseen until Aug. 16, 2024 by Equity Officer II Alize Asberry Payne. In Mar/April 2023, The A2Indy revealed Asberry Payne had used her County-issued credit card to make $115,000 in charges, including at luxury hotels costing up to $600 per night. The newspaper also revealed Asberry Payne had lied about her educational qualifications and work experience when applying for the job as Washtenaw County’s DEI Dept. Dir.

The contract between Washtenaw County and Supreme Felons, Inc., signed by County Administrator Greg Dill and Billy Cole, the self-described president/ceo of the non-profit, states Washtenaw County is required to conduct monitoring of the group’s financial statements, performance data and other “materials to ensure compliance with federal award guidance.” Section VII of the contract between the County and Supreme Felons, Inc. states that, “The County may suspend funding…in whole or in part for any of the following reasons: “Failure to comply with the requirements or statutory objectives of federal or state law.”

On May 15, 2023, the tax-exempt status of Supreme Felons, Inc was revoked by the IRS because for three years running the group submitted no 990 tax returns. In August 2023, after the group filed its returns, and provided an explanation for the missing tax returns, the IRS reinstated the group’s non-profit status retroactive to May 15, 2023, according to IRS records.

County records for 2023 show Cole requested funds from the Community Priority Fund to pay his salary, pay contract employees (Financial Manager, tax preparer, accountant) and employees who interact with children in the County’s Juvenile Detention facility. Cole also requested funds to pay staff for a controversial Neighborhood Watch program confined to two neighborhoods in Ypsi. Twp.

The budget submitted to the County with the Supreme Felons, Inc. grant application projected Billy Cole and one other full-time employee being paid $40,000 each. County records show Cole is the only salaried employee and pays himself over $82,000. This salary translates into Cole being paid 15 percent of the total funds ($527,000) given to his organization from the County’s Community Priority Fund in 2023.

If the requested public records are not turned over by Supreme Felons, Inc., the newspaper will file suit and rely on its FOIA Fund to pay costs and fees.