Here’s the run down a local story that epitomizes the sheer greed only the worst of business leaders can possess regardless of age or gender. It’s also an argument against staffing agencies and outsourced HR/payroll firms and a testament to why any company considering itself worthy of being an employer of ten or more people should be able to process it’s own payroll and benefits internally.
Back to Suzanne Clifton. Here’s a woman who lives the high life, or so I hear. She’s the former President and sole share holder of The Castleton Group, a HR and payroll “partnering” firm that would handle these two critical pieces of business for smaller, local companies in Raleigh, Cincinnati and Asheville. It sure sounds to me as though Clifton was likely responsible for the most top decisions made for a company she went to great lengths to identify as hers exclusively. She even boasted about her business background and community service on the Castleton website.
In October of 2006 Clifton must have used her ego, reputation, and possibly money, to get named to the North Carolina Professional Employer Organization Advisory Council by the The North Carolina General Assembly. They appointed her to the council through 2009. She’s probably still a member of the council. Why is this important?
Let’s start at the beginning of Clifton’s and The Castleton Group’s bad decisions. Jay McLamb, Castleton’s former CFO, filed false federal payroll tax forms between 2005 and 2007. They didn’t pay almost $8 million in federal payroll taxes as a result. Let’s pretend for a minute that Suzanne Clifton knew nothing about Jay’s naughty behavior. Regardless, she hired Jay and didn’t have an internal audit trail to disclose fraudulent activity of this magnitude in her own company.
So the problems begin compounding. Because of this “clerical error”, which Castleton insists they reported when the problem was discovered, the NC Department of Insurance did not issue the necessary Professional Employer Organization license to Castleton twice between 2005 and 2007. Was this ever disclosed to ANY of the businesses Clifton, er, I mean Castleton handled benefits and payroll for? My guess is that a notice was not sent to their client base emphasizing they were operating illegally(?) at various intervals.
Edit: I am not certain that Castleton ever operated “illegally”. They operated without the necessary state licenses from the NC Department of Insurance. So they operated “unlicensed”.
It appears with $6 million currently due in back taxes from apparent fraud and no operating license, the NC board of Insurance deemed The Castleton Group insolvent on Dec. 4, 2007. Immediately Clifton found a PR firm (one that she could afford) and declared “We’re open for business under appeal”. Still no admission of a problem. By December 18th Clifton declared bankruptcy and listed 5000 debtors, most of which are employees of Castleton’s clients.
Many families had to go into Christmas wondering if they would have insurance coverage for which premiums had already been docked from their paychecks or if they would be receiving another paycheck at all while employers scrambled to internalize or change payroll providers. And who can these employers hold responsible? No one because the Castleton is insolvent and Clifton is probably privileged to numerous layers of incorporation protections for her personal assets. Assets which, according to Wake County property records, include a 2004 Mercedes valued over $42K and at least two houses worth just over one million combined. Smells like Clifton’s clients suffered the ramifications of an old woman’s greed, not just her bad business sense.
Two big questions remain in this story: Does Suzanne Clifton deserve to be on the North Carolina Professional Employer Organization Advisory Council based upon her stellar judgment we have seen displayed to date? Second, should there be further investigation to determine if she should face any criminal charges for negligence if nothing else? I’m forwarding these questions to WRAL reporter Cullen Browder to see if the media can do any damage to the matter.
Excellent comments, Todd. Why not forward your blog to Jonathan Cox, David Ranii, and Sabine VOllmer at the N&O. They are all working on this story.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Todd. She’ll get away with this I’m sure by just going to work with her other “sister company” (just “google” it online) that she owns, Executive Staffing Group. I knew this lady years ago, and she has MULTI-million dollar homes in the Virgin Islands, Florida, and in North Carolina. That’s probably where she was when WRAL reporters were knocking on her door a few nights ago. What a shame that she owes so many people money, yet she was the one (not her CFO) benefiting from the falsified records. In my opinion, she should be held responsible criminally. This is not fair to the citizens of NC who are suffering because of this. I know one of the families that is in a very bad situation due to her company’s actions. Obviously she knew what was going on and if she didn’t, she’s not as business smart as she claims to be, is she????
I believe I will push this to more media outlets because I haven’t seen any local mention of this woman’s General Assembly appointment. It’s a matter of public awareness.
(1) Castleton never operated illegally. The DOI allowed them to continue operating while the dispute was being straightened out. Castleton can, in fact, open its doors back up legally — and the DOI would like them to do so long enough to properly wind down the business.
(2) Due to throat cancer Clifton was an absentee owner until 2006. The shenanigans started in 2005. That was more than enough time to create falsified internal records that would fool her.
(3) There was no reason to suspect McLamb was doing anything shady. He, too, received honors while at Castleton (Triangle’s 40 under 40, etc.)
(4) Castleton is a corporation, which under the law is equivalent to a person. Clifton is not personally responsible for paying its debts anymore than she’s responsible for yours. Before you call this deceitful, consider that most business owners incorporate in order to protect themselves from liability.
(5) With this in mind, how exactly would criminal penalties against Clifton, McLamb or anyone else actually benefit those who are suffering?
Check out today’s N & O. Are you KIDDING ME??? It’s doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that Suzanne KNEW this, and the fact that she was sick has nothing to do with anything. She has been back in the business for years. She knew about the company not paying taxes when she came back to work, so if she was such an intelligent business woman, wouldn’t she be closely watching federal tax documents from that point forward? Funny that you say that they can open back up their doors because there are no doors to open. It’s DONE! She’s completely out of business and can’t operate under Castleton and never will. Trust me, the DOI would NOT “like” for her to do so, and I am quite certain that they would LAUGH at your comment.
Why are you all so quick to excuse the others involved. These others participated in crimal activity, but should be exempt? Why? IF she told them to do what they did, does that make it ok? It pisses me off that it is not important that all involved are looked at.
Who is excusing others involved? After the investigation(s) have been completed, I am sure that all involved and guilty will be revealed. However, she did lead the pack and always proudly spoke of how “hands on” a businesswoman she was. It is logical since she was the sole shareholder that she is on the forefront of the discussions. Investigations need to continue on to the sister company as well, Executive Staffing. I understand that she has removed her name from this company but the investigation should prove that a closer look needs to be taken. I know that “books were cooked” there as well as I sat in on executive meetings and left the company because I knew that the family business they had going on was full of dishonesty. These companies have been in trouble for years and have been surviving on the “reputation”. Bottom line, Ms. Clifton is greedy and power hungry and looks like it has finally come back to bite her.
I don’t know what time period you are talking about, but just because you think she is crooked, doesn’t mean that the ones running ESG are. The books are not “cooked” at ESG. I know the responsible parties at ESG and they do not “cook” the books. But you are right that they will investigate them too probably. Time will tell. I would hate for this to bring down the sister company and effect the employees there, if it is not necessary. Too many have been effected already.
There is a ton of blame to go around. None of the people she put into place to run Castleton have been stellar, to say the least. But she hired them. I don’t care if she didn’t know about the illegal activity, she has a duty to understand the financial standing of her company, especially a company where so much money is being collected for taxes, premiums, etc. It is utterly irresponsible to simply say, “I didn’t know what was going on and these guys screwed me.” She had enough information to know the company wasn’t sound. Playing the victim doesn’t cut it, especially when you’re enjoying the trappings of great wealth.
From what I have heard, this woman is more ignorant and egotistical than she is purposely malicious. Her overall poor business acumen, bad hiring decisions, total ignorance of running a financially complex business, and blind greed led to disaster for Castleton’s clients and employees.
But Secor and McLamb are probably getting off a little too easy in the press. If she was so bad, why did you work there for years? Why did you help enable her behavior for so long?
There is an article in the N&O today that the investigation has begun. I hope the truth comes out in this probe. The press is crucifying Suzanne Clifon right now. I hope they get McLamb and any others too. The DOI should be held responsible for NOT handling this correctly as well.
The media needs to stop the he said / she said crap and let the investigators find the truth. The media needs to be professional and stop reporting crap! With the way that some of this is being reported, so unprofessionally, it is ridiculous. It seems that they are listening to whomever gives them information. Who cares that the dog went to the emergency meeting (N&O article). Is the information in the N&O factual. Reporting that the owner of two companies pays herself well and has lots of money… duh! An executive who hasn’t done things totally on the up and up and is “taking care of themself”… duh! What is new?
Let’s get to the point here! Who did what? Where did the money go? Embezzlement?
Yeah, I have known the family for quite some time (notice I’m remaining annonymous!). Some of the timeframes are off with what happened in the company. Suzanne Clifton isn’t as hands on as the press (or Clifton) makes herself out to be. Prestige and greed are definately a factors here. Clifton likes to be in the spotlight. But I really think it could be feasible that she didn’t know a lot of what was going on, or at least turned a blind eye to it in denial, which is not necessarily a good thing. Her biggest crime could very well be that she is greedy, clueless and just wants to be surrounded by her stuff. Did she master mind the whole thing? I don’t think so. I think she will be held responsible because she is the owner and she should have known A LOT more that she did.
Is MMI Associates/Patty Briguglio the PR firm that you’re talking about in your post? If that’s the case then there’s a lot of irony in it (although, I prefer to call it poetic justice). MMI Associates, a Raleigh, N.C.-based public relations firm was very-much linked to Castleton. Briguglio sat on the PEO’s board of advisors and MMI Associates was the PR agency of record for Castleton.
Oh and then there’s the fact that MMI Associates was a CLIENT of The Castleton Group too – It appears this was still the case even as Patty Briguglio defended Castelton and Suzanne Clifton in the media.
I found this on another blog regarding this topic:
“Where are all Suzanne’s friends now? Where is MMI Associates? They were the first to stand up and deny the company was insolvent? Did they know it was a scam as well? Here’s what they said: “Castleton is not insolvent,” said Patty Briguglio, president of MMI Associates, a public relations firm that represents the company.”
The above paragraph is quoted from: http://www.localtechwire.com/golo/page/1896337/?id=2203091
Funny thing is, that quote, “Castleton is not insolvent…” was taken directly from a News & Observer story that WAS located here:
http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/811855.html
Apparently, since it’s been written, the story (which quotes Patty Briguglio as saying “Castleton is not insolvent,”) has been removed from the N&O’s website AND archives.
Briguglio goes on to say in the since-removed story, “The value of its (Casteleton’s) goodwill and client base results in its assets exceeding its liabilities.”
Right. I’m sure that’s why Castleton’s not operating. But of course, through all this, Castleton’s PR maven/client showed her confidence Castleton: “Suzanne Clifton has told me that Castleton is still in business and intends to remain in business.”
There’s some serious inbreeding of businesses in this area thanks to a few PR firms, MMI included. I don’t see how or why the N&O would just remove a story like that since it’s part of an entire line of reporting. Is it an honest error or is there something larger at work here?
Kudos to you Todd for blogging about this.
On a final note, I’ve emailed the writer of the N&O story to see where the story has been buried.
Patty Briguglio said “Castleton is not insolvent”
Yes, she did. I read this in the same N&O article you’re referencing. Very odd it’s disappeared. Did she not say it, or are they retracting it at some legal request? No matter how you stack it up this whole thing stinks to high hell and the answer to my original question is obvious: Yes, Suzanne Clifton should face criminal charges for gross negligence if nothing else. Here’s the legal definition that explains my reasoning:
GROSS NEGLIGENCE – Failure to use even the slightest amount of care in a way that shows recklessness or willful disregard for the safety or well being of others.
Is there any argument that at the least she did not care and turned a blind eye to the numerous warnings she received from the DOI? Good intentions and optimistic forecasts are no substitute for responsibility and accountability.
the article is still there http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/811855.html
Yes, the article has returned. I called the N&O and their parent company to ask about it The story I got was that a number of stories (the above-referenced one included) were removed by accident. I managed to speak to someone in their technical department to get it replaced quickly with the original link in tact.
As for the quote, I can only guess Briguglio said it…since it was in print. But these days you never know. But then again, why would I give her the benefit of the doubt?
As an ex-employee of the Castleton Group this whole mess is disheartning. For those of us who were the “core” of the company, the ones who were the front line with clients and processed the payrolls, we worked very hard with integrity. We built relationships with the clients believing that we represented a company that was more than just solvent… but highly successful (TBJ- Fastest Growing awards, etc.). We believe that there was due- diligence in all the decisions that were being made for the welfare and benefit of the employees and clients. For most employees, this is as much a shock as it was to the clients. For the staff that trusted Jay McLamb (who was just charged with Federal tax fraud)the only thing I assume they feel now is sorry.. sorry for his sons if Jay is actually convicted and has to serve time in jail. For all of you other employers out there, if an ex-Castleton employee shows up looking for employment… dont give them (us) the lifted eyebrow when you review the resume. We are educated, hardworking, honest and loyal employees. The repuation of Castleton should not represent its people as a whole.
Ha! Good luck with that. It’s a little late. I would not hire someone that worked for that company, especially if they are defending them. It is clear that they were in the wrong (which doesn’t mean you are in the wrong). I am in the staffing industry…just some advice, don’t defend them, admit that you are glad you are no longer part of the group and move on. Then, maybe someone will hire you.
Well looks like Jay has copped a plea and appears to be rolling over on others.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2767/story/1094233.html
I sure did find the comment “He (Jay) did say that ‘because of all this, I am suffering from depression’ and taking medication.” interesting! So, does Jay still have his medical benefits? Did he have to scramble like so many others? As the article states “Many still don’t have all issues resolved.” And where has Ms Clifton been all this time? Shouldn’t she be right up there in front of a judge with Jay?
“James O. McLamb Jr. of Raleigh, 41, is the first executive ensnared by federal prosecutors”
Let’s hope number 2 is Ms. Clifton.
Jim Kendall –
You would not hire someone that worked for that company? Wow, what a diligent and smart recruiter. You must be very successful. I mean, recruiters should never really dig into the details and figure out the true nature of a candidate. And YES, all employees that worked for Jay and Suzanne should be punished for not figuring out that their bosses were frauds. I applaud your total lack of depth. I’m sure all the employees at Enron were horrible people too.
Or maybe you’re not a recruiter, as you simply say you are in the “staffing industry.”
Okay, seriously. Feeling sorry for Jay’s innocent children is not defending him…ignorant a$$ monkey. It’s called having human emotions. By the way, 95% of Castleton’s ex-employees have found great jobs.
Jim Kendall….today’s “Worst Person in the World.”
1 – Let’s make it perfectly clear, McLamb would not go to the bathroom without Clifton’s direction.
2 – There is at least one other within McLamb’s department who had allegiance to McLamb who was completely aware of all that was going on! I hope he is prosecuted also.
3 – These three are the real criminals and this is only the tip of the iceberg of all the illegal shenanigans that they directed in 2006, 2007.
4 – I hope they all rot in jail and I view my association with that nasty company as just one big nightmare!
5 – I agree with Mr Kendall’s comment and I nominate all three for the “Worst Person in the World” award.
6 – I wonder how they sleep at night!
I somehow dont think Jay is remorseful here even though his statement at his last court date was that ‘was depressed and on meds’. He pawned his house over to “McLamb Land Trust” a week before declaring bankruptcy. I wonder if his rich daddy has anything to do with that trust.
With the lawyer he has and daddy’s money, he will spend very little time in club fed. When the time in club fed is over, he will likely join the wife and kids back at harbourgate dr.
Gee where DID he put his cut of the $8M ??
http://www.newsobserver.com/nrn/story/1153394-p2.html -> no longer an active link
newsobserver.com | North Raleigh News
Mclamb, James Otis Jr to Mclamb Land Trust By Trustee, 4409 Harbourgate Dr, Raleigh, 27612, $0. Watson, Richard Martin to Bixler, Matthew & melissa, …
http://www.newsobserver.com/nrn/story/1153394-p2.html – 46k – Cached – Similar pages
Once a greedy little rich bastard…always a greedy little rich bastard.
Her incompetent son who doesn’t even have a college degree is the so called CEO of her other company, Executive Staffing Group (WHAT A JOKE!!!!). Being the player that he is, his attempts to brag about and date women half his age are a joke too, and we all LAUGH at him.
Does anyone know if Jay was sentenced yet?
Good question. Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for Sept. 8th. Not sure what happened.
I heard it had been rescheduled for the beginning of November. The real question is……when will the truth about Suzanne come out? I am certain that she believes that she will get away with everything by claiming she doesn’t know what was going on. If she was so business savvy, she would have known.
The truth has come out about Suzanne. Jay said, under oath, she had no knowledge of the tax evasion.
If we can only get our 401ks back, we can be done with this mess.
“Jay said, under oath, she had no knowledge of the tax evasion.”
Then she’s just naive and has pathetic business acumen for not knowing what’s going on with the accounting of her own company. Especially when the company was receiving notice from the IRS and NC Dept. of Insurance. Therefore she should still be bankrupt and never allowed the responsibility of so many peoples benefits or payroll under her, or any company she heads again.
I have been reading the comments and researched the case. Wow! I worked for Suzanne Clifton almost 20 years ago,as a placement councelor, when I was in my early twenties. At this time it was called Executive Temporaries.
I remember living on Raman Noodles and barely getting by. No problem, I was young and trying to better myself. But I remember very well the day that I asked her for a raise. I had tried to prepare myself to be very professional. When I explained my reasoning for requesting a pay raise, she laughed and told me that I was just like her husband. She could give me $5.00 and I would spend it in a day and she could be given $5.00 and it would last her a month. I remember being very insulted and quit within a few days. Her CFO at the time asked me not to leave and I would be given a raise. I declined, as I already had found another job and could never work for someone so arrogant.
I also remember the time that Ms. Clifton bought herself a new mink coat. She brought it into the office and had me try it on so that she could see how it looked on someone else. Isn’t that special?
My feeling about the whole situation is that yes, Jay McLamb did some awful things and justice should be served, but Ms. Clifton should not get away with nthing but a slap on the wrist. She is certainly not a stupid woman and for her to say that she knew absolutely nothing is ridiculous. Personally, coming from someone who knew her but obviously was not impressed with her, I think it is a matter of greed. She loved to show off what she had, and this was almost 20 years ago, before she really made it big.
Thanks for letting me rant. 🙂
That woman and her children are truly pathetic individuals. Treat people like dirt for 20 years and see what happens?
And for Annonymous who says:
“Her incompetent son who doesn’t even have a college degree is the so called CEO of her other company, Executive Staffing Group (WHAT A JOKE!!!!). Being the player that he is, his attempts to brag about and date women half his age are a joke too, and we all LAUGH at him”
I hope the son is forced to go looking for work after the other company sinks. I hear Bojangles is hiring.
She will
I see where Jay is helping the Feds in their investigation now. See this post for info:
http://toddsingleton.net/chronicle/?p=410
SUZANNE CLIFTON WAS ALWAYS HANDS ON WITH HER BUSINESS. DUE TO THROAT CANCER SHE WAS AN ABSENTEE OWNER UNTIL 2006. DO ANY OF YOU KNOW HOW LIVING ON THE EDGE OF DEATH FEELS? THE ONLY THING YOU CAN CONCENTRATE ON IS SURVIVING THIS DISEASE!
HER MAIN PROBLEM IS SHE TRUSTED PEOPLE WORKING FOR HER.
Ms. Clifton was FULLY INVOLVED in her business from 2003 on, if not a little before. She was clear of her cancer. Not to suggest fighting cancer is not all-consuming while seeking treatment, but her FULL RECOVERY should have made her make different life decisions going forward. Greed, denial, maliciousness and intimidating control are not traits one who has survived cancer should have continued onward with, in my opinion.
Don’t be fooled by her. Although I am sorry she had to go through her cancer, and I would not wish that on anyone, that has nothing to do with anything. She has been free of that for years and as the previous post reads, she was fully aware of all of the kiting of checks back and forth between her two companies and authorized these transactions weekly. She knew that she did not have the money to spend, and she STILL continued to buy thousands of dollars of material items, all full well knowing that she didn’t really have it. She was just spending other people’s money, and she deserves to pay for what she did, behind bars hopefully. Then to be so arrogant as to claim that she is so much better and smarter than anyone else….saying to those around her that anyone could have a multimillion dollar home, etc, if they just “worked harder”. Maybe if she had really worked harder (and smarter), her company would not have been shut down, while now running another one (Executive Staffing Group) in the ground. That’s the bottom line; if she had a clue, she wouldn’t be facing the consequences that she is now. It’s her own fault, and that just comes with owning your own business. Stay away from these people. The whole family thinks they are entitled to everything. I have known her since 2005, and she has always constantly bragged about how much better she is than everyone and how none of her employes in her whole life have EVER impressed her, not even one employee over all of her years of work experience. So, if you are a former employee of hers (in the post above taking up for her), just know that you never impressed her. I do think she was clueless about a lot of things because she isn’t a very smart lady, but I also think that she knew all along she didn’t have the funds and just never thought she would get caught (very selfish). All I have to say them is….KARMA!!
What is the status of the case? Anybody know? I don’t see any news updates on Suzanne or Jay. As for the comment from the previous poster, when I worked for her years ago, I always knew she was not imressed with me. But then again, I wasn’t impressed with her either. I’ve never been a fan of arrogant people. I am certainly not wishing for her to go to prison, which I don’t think would happen anyway, but dang, take some responsibility and don’t just throw Jay under the bus so you can look like an angel. People who worked for her know better.
Folks, don’t be fooled by The Cliftons or Savages (sons that are responsible for ESG). I’ve known their family and organization(s) for a good many years now and many of the above posts are correct. They are greedy people that feel they are entitled to everything. They are the master “spinners” and no one has ever left on good terms…from either company. Money was exchanged between both companies to float payrolls that they couldn’t cover – it was sad. Stupid and sad. Though, I will say that the former employee’s at Castleton shouldn’t be blamed…not the day to day workers. They really are good people and thought that they were working for a good “family owned” business. I can attest to the fact that the Cliftons and Savages are master manipulators and only say what you want to hear. It would be difficult, unless you were close with the “executives”, to know about any wrong doing.
No matter how they spin the truth, the executive staffing group is linked, closely, with the now insolvent Castleton Group.
A good question for the media to ask “ESG” is why they got kicked out or “asked to leave” their corporate bank in 2006. Answer: because the bank knew that they were trading money with Castleton in order to float payroll. If they didn’t leave, they would be turned in.
And THAT’S the truth.
Who is doing business with Executive Staffing? You should be ashamed for funding these criminal activities.
Executive Staffing probably won’t last much longer (not quite sure how they have lasted this long). All of their employees are slowly leaving and who in their right mind would possibly go work for them? Anyone that actually researches the company would know better.
Did anyone read the comment posted by a “lauric” aka Ms. Clifton under the N&O article written this week regarding Suzanne’s bankruptcy filing? Unbelievable! Can you say narcissistic and evil? Who in their right mind would be jealous of that fake “grandiose lifestyle”? That is almost laughable. And if Castleton really owed Suzanne 2.5 million, believe me, it would have been deducted from the suit. Have the books at ESG been analyzed yet? What about the “rumor” that ESG footed the bill for $800K toward the building costs of her first St. John house that has never been repaid? What about rumored payroll tax problems occurring in the early years of ESG, long before McLamb became employed at Castleton. Has anyone forgotten about the television news story as well as articles in the N&O around 2004 regarding felonious wiretapping directed by a certain person against former Castleton leaders, Scott Secor and Mick Carver? Perhaps eveidence can be presented as proof of that one. By the way, why was that lawsuit Ms. Clifton filed against them settled out of court, at Ms. Clifton’s expense? Why was a lawsuit dating back to the late 1990’s,brought on by Ms. Clifton against a former leader at ESG, closed under gag order after Ms. Clifton lost?And why was a VERY recent lawsuit brought on once again by Ms. Clifton against a former ESG employee, settled out of court? How in the world can ESG fund such lawsuits when there’s a “rumor” that it’s going down? I wonder if there is any client money being used to pay those legal fees that might leave innocent people in a lurch? Could it be there’s always been evil tricks in the Prada bag? Is someone sad there are no more $15,000 weekend shopping trips at Nieman Marcus anymore, nor any $20,000 exotic trips to Afica? Too bad, you earned it!
It looks like April 9th is Jay McLambs scheduled sentencing. It will be interesting to see if criminal charges are pursued against Clifton once the investigation is wrapped up.
09Apr09 should be an interesting day. I still think Jay has been granted too long a stay from sentencing. Some of the comments by OMG are quite interesting – sounds as if anyone that challenges Ms. Clifton is subsequently dragged through the mud in hopes they will recant, drop their challenge, etc. I just hope the whole lot gets charged!
I see that the McLamb house in Raleigh has finally been sold. I do feel some sympathy for his sons but I can’t help but think his selfish desires let to part of this debacle. Oh well I hope we learn more after 09Apr
Per Jonathan Cox from the N&O Jay’s sentencing has been postponed again.
http://toddsingleton.net/chronicle/?p=489
I would love to join in this blog but I am still cleaning the mud off of me while trying to adjust my gag.
If Suzanne and her sons slip through the net, there will be NO justice in this world. I worked at the sister company, and Suzanne was always on top of the money. She NEVER left it to other people, unless it was her son Matt. The payroll manager there now is her brother Roddy. I can assure you that I have personally witnessed the arrogance and indifference to others. Rest assured, she is not sorry. Be assure, there is no planet where her need for money can be satisfied and her single-minded intention to get it doesn’t come first. No one has ever left working for this woman on good terms. I’m sorry others had to suffer.
She is SATAN. Her sons are the spawn of SATAN.
I worked for Suzanne’s husband (Larry) in the 80’s and the same things went on in his company (Cenplex). He was always taking money out of the business account to go on expensive hunting trips or things he wanted to purchase. Not paying employees for the hours they worked because he thought they should have done it in a shorter time. He would only allow me to pay them the hours he thought the job took. He also had trouble meeting payroll and I don’t know where the money came from to make it. I got so tired making excuses and lying to his suppliers about why their invoices were not paid. I left my position as AP/HR with his company and told myself his day would come and I did not want to be a part of it. I think they are both crooked and they are very greedy family. They need to look into his affairs as well.
HOW ARE THEY STILL SPONSORING THE JIMMY V FOUNDATION GOLF TOURNAMENT????
The Executive Staffing Group has been a long time “supporter” of the Jimmy V Foundation and its annual golf classic. Brooks and Suzanne attend the pairing parties, auction, gala, and tournament every year and are considered a “gold sponsor”. Having worked for ESG many years ago, I know the cost of this event. WHERE is this money coming from?!
And more importantly, WHY is the V Foundation still accepting their sponsorship??
The Clifton’s and Savage’s are greedy, showy people that only want the glitz – by whatever means necessary.
I suggest, like the person above, that the IRS look into Larry’s company as well. Diry, dirty, dirty. Pun intended.
The fact that Executive Staffing is still able to operate in Raleigh is laughable and a true testament to its governing bodies along with the businesses / people who continue to support them. Thank god I moved away from that place. What a joke you are.
Who cares how they are supporting the Jimmy V? I have a friend that used to work for them and always laughed at how they try to pressure all of the staff members into donating to the Jimmy V. Perhaps their employees have their own charities that they would like to put money towards. They think that’s some big deal and do it for the show. In reality, they probably never pay the Jimmy V anyway. I’d be willing to bet $$ that they owe the Jimmy V Foundation money (like everything else they do). I agree with the above comment, that why would they even allow Suzanne to be on the board of that program anyway? ESPECIALLY considering the fact that organization has been through it’s own scrutiny in the years past, as being crooked and selfish, using donations to pay their family members who run the organization, over the top salaries……Sound familiar??? Selfish people stick together.