From Jubilation to Crisis: Pausing a $237 Million Gift

Inside Higher Ed

Kathryn Palmer

May 13, 2024

Less than a week after Florida A&M University celebrated a mysterious Texas hemp farmer’s historic donation during its graduation ceremony, jubilation crumbled into a crisis fueled by skepticism about the donor’s purported wealth and questions about whether the university sufficiently vetted the gift.

The university has now paused the deal while it further assesses the donation’s value, despite earlier claims that it did its “due diligence” before announcing it had $237 million in stock from Gregory Gerami, the 30-year-old founder and CEO of Batterson Farms Corp and trustee of the Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust, which underwrote the donation.

“With regards to the gift and the processing of it and so forth, in terms of any future processing, we’ve already decided it’s in our best interest to put that on hold,” FAMU President Larry Robinson said Thursday evening at an emergency meeting of the FAMU Foundation’s Board of Directors.

The announcement followed days of criticism from vocal observers, who noted how a quick internet search reveals the limited, amateurish online presence of Gerami’s allegedly highly successful business, as well as news articles about how Gerami previously backed out of a $95 million pledge to Coastal Carolina University.

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