San Francisco Aquarium calls for state investigation into alleged financial mismanagement

Representatives of the Aquarium of the Bay in San Francisco want to ask state authorities to investigate the deposed president and CEO. While the aquarium was in financial difficulties, they allegedly spent huge sums on travel and events.

The board of Bay.org, the nonprofit organization that oversees the aquarium, voted Wednesday to refer “allegations of financial and operational mismanagement” by George Jacob to the California Attorney General’s Office, according to Jon B. Fisher, the board’s recently appointed chairman.

The Office of the Attorney General’s Charitable Foundations Division investigates and takes legal action against charities that misuse funds. Their investigations, which can last anywhere from six months to a few years, can result in enforcement actions such as the recovery of misused funds, the imposition of penalties and even the involuntary dissolution of a charity, according to the office.

“I believe this great organization, whose goal is to protect and promote fish and the ocean, has been exploited and deserves close scrutiny by the Attorney General,” said Fisher, an aquarium donor who joined the board in February.

Jacob, a self-described museum futurist, was forced to resign on May 22 after key members of his staff raised concerns about his spending and other conduct in letters to Bay.org’s board. Former staffers, many of whom told the Chronicle they resigned out of frustration with Jacob’s management, said previous Bay.org board members had long known about the nonprofit’s management problems and bore responsibility for its troubles.

Jacob’s lawyer, former San Francisco Supervisor Angela Alioto, said her client is being defamed. She had previously called his firing a dismissal and said he plans to sue for wrongful termination, among other things.

“We will cooperate 100% with any investigation by the great Attorney General of the State of California,” Alioto said.

Fisher declined to disclose the specific financial and administrative issues Bay.org plans to raise with the attorney general, but previously told the Chronicle that “money was grossly mismanaged” under Jacob.

Last December, Jacob hosted a concert at a Dubai opera house that cost his nonprofit an estimated $461,000, according to a preliminary accounting staff presented to the board. He hosted the concert in hopes of attracting donors to his $260 million plan to transform the aquarium into a world-class climate museum, but that plan never came to fruition.

Jacob also had a travel budget of $286,000 last year, paid for by the nonprofit, preliminary estimates show, as he flew around the world to present his vision for change.

At the same time, his nonprofit was mired in a deepening financial crisis. Staff alleged that a $700,000 loan the aquarium took out last year to upgrade its dilapidated infrastructure was instead largely used for other purposes, including unpaid rent and to cover various credit card expenses.

Alioto said she sent Bay.org a notice of intent to sue on Tuesday. She said Jacob was wrongfully fired after reporting employee misconduct to the board and that some employees who spoke out against him were “on the brink” of being fired by Jacob.

Alioto said the attorney general’s investigation should not be limited to Jacob.

“Nothing was spent that the board didn’t know about,” she said.

The law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has agreed to represent Bay.org and its current board of directors pro bono against any legal claims brought by Jacob, Fisher and the firm told the Chronicle.

Fisher has stated that he hopes to improve the nonprofit’s financial situation.

Reach Tara Duggan: [email protected]; Twitter: @taraduggan, Reach Michael Barba: [email protected]