In October 2024, a charity golf tournament advertised as a fundraiser which would help empower young girls in Maryland took place at the Lakewood Country Club in Rockville, and to those who attended, it appeared to be a success.
But now, almost five months later, the two charities advertised as the beneficiaries of the Leonard Sports Management Celebrity Golf Tournament say they haven’t seen a dime from the event put on by the company of which Ray Leonard Jr., the son of famed boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, is the CEO.
Shannon Babe-Thomas is with Community Bridges from Silver Spring, which works to empower young girls in grades 4-12. In August, she said she received a message from someone with Leonard Sports Management who informed the organization that it had been selected to be a beneficiary charity of the tournament, and it was an offer Babe-Thomas said she was excited to accept.
“I thought, well, a beneficiary of a celebrity golf tournament. That sounds amazing,” Babe-Thomas told WTOP.
In emails viewed by WTOP, Babe-Thomas sent logos and other information about her organization and made plans to not only attend herself, but also bring volunteers who would help raise money for the event at different holes.
In the weeks that followed the invitation, social media posts, including some featuring celebrity sports figures who would be in attendance, were posted online, advertising the event which would benefit Community Bridges and a second charity, Baltimore’s Lady Lions youth basketball program.
Babe-Thomas also made a video promoting the event, which was posted to the management company’s Instagram page.
On the day of the event, Oct. 21, 2024, Babe-Thomas said she arrived early to the country club.
“Players started to come. It looked like it was going to be a great day. The course was packed. The weather was beautiful,” Babe-Thomas said.
She recalled meeting several celebrities, among them current and former sports figures, at the event and seeing food, drinks and activities at every hole, including what she called a “party scene” at the eighth hole.
“Everyone’s enjoying drinking and consuming a lot of alcohol,” Babe-Thomas said.
Several social media posts by Leonard Sports Management on Instagram and Ray Leonard Jr. on Facebook in one video tout “an amazing turnout” for the company’s first golf tournament.
But after the tournament, Babe-Thomas said it’s been a long wait for a check that has yet to come.
On Dec. 17, Babe-Thomas said there was some hope when in a response to an Instagram post made by Community Bridges, the account for LSM responded: “Congratulations. Our donation will be coming soon for golf! Merry Christmas.”
Months would pass after that message came, and no money was ever received.
At the Baltimore Lady Lions youth basketball program for girls, founder and coach Tully Sullivan and coach and bookkeeper Alexis Washington said they have also not received a donation from the organization after the tournament — a tournament Sullivan said the organization didn’t officially sign up to be connected with.
Sullivan said he recalled talking to a parent about the Lady Lions being a part of the event, but he said confirmation never came and they only received a flyer in the mail about the event.
“We never had any further conversation. We didn’t attend anything,” Sullivan said.
As bookkeeper, Washington confirmed the Lady Lions saw no benefit from the tournament.
“We did not receive any funds or donations for this event,” Washington said. “The event happened without us, without our participation, without our attendance; and it wasn’t something that we publicized as a means of raising funds for (ourselves) as well.”
The country club’s unpaid invoice
Also expecting payment was the Lakewood Country Club where General Manager Andrea Morrow said after receiving a deposit for the tournament, the event took place as many others have on Mondays, which are set aside for charity tournaments several times a year.
“We’re the venue, so we provide the food, the beverage and the golf. And they had their sponsors, and they take care of check in, and we take care of scoring and food and beverage throughout the event, and they left,” Morrow said.
Morrow said as time passed, the remaining balance of close to $24,000 went unpaid. She said that would lead to a call between her and Ray Leonard Jr. in December.
“Ray said to me that he was unaware that the bill hadn’t been paid, and he would take care of it right away,” Morrow said.
She said they “heard nothing for another 30 days,” and the invoice remains unpaid.
Club treasurer Mitchell Rubenstein would also, in the months that followed, discover the charities saw no contributions from the event.
Morrow said there is “no doubt” in her mind that the tournament pulled in enough money to pay the charities and the golf course.
“They (tournament organizers) paid for 100 players to come to Lakewood. Collected money from 100 players in advance — you pay in advance for these types of things — and then never paid their vendors or made any donations to the charities.”
According to the event’s website, the cost per player was $500 and sponsorships ranged from $1,000 to $25,000.
Morrow said the events are meant to help the charities and knowing those organizations saw no contributions is “awful.”
‘Shady math’ and ‘missing money’
WTOP reached out to Ray Leonard Jr., who said the event was a result of an idea from someone he’s worked with for many years. Leonard said he would entrust this consultant to oversee the finances and overall planning of the event as he took a “back seat.”
It wasn’t until December that Leonard said he realized there was some “shady math” and “a few dollars missing” that he said his company is still trying to account for.
WTOP is not naming the consultant because they haven’t been charged with a crime, but, when contacted via text, they said they want to “provide clarification” about the event.
“While we did agree to showcase the charities and allocate a portion of the proceeds to them if any were generated, unfortunately, no proceeds were available to distribute,” the consultant said.
The consultant said it was the result of a significant number of sponsors not fulfilling their payment commitments and several players also failing to submit their payments.
“Despite these challenges, all vendors were paid in full, and the golf course was compensated $5,000 for hosting the event on a day it was otherwise closed. Furthermore, no one from Leonard Sports Management received any payment or financial benefit from the event,” the consultant said.
The consultant also said this was the first they heard of “missing money.”
WTOP has asked the consultant for documentation to show costs associated with the event but has not received a response.
In responding to the comments from the consultant, Leonard said he believed there was enough money raised to cover the bills for the event, but said he did not have access to the money collected or sent out, or the system used to organize the golf tournament.
“It’s very frustrating and disappointing to me to see that people that I trusted to execute put me and put the organization in a bad situation and, since then, they are not involved with the organization anymore,” Leonard said.
As for the charities, Babe-Thomas said she is disappointed that despite the time her organization put into the event, they have seen no contribution as a result.
“It’s terrible that we were taken advantage of, especially another nonprofit that is volunteer-run and really, really small, and we both believe in women’s empowerment,” Babe-Thomas said.
For Sullivan, he said the whole situation has just been “disappointing.”
“How can you use young people that you don’t know for a financial gain and go to sleep at night?” he said.
Leonard said he did not see financial gain from the event and it was “not a financial success,” but he said the charities did get “thousands of dollars of free promotion” by taking part in the event.
“It was all good intentions with putting the tournament together, to try to highlight women’s empowerment and highlight the organizations and charities,” Leonard said. “But, at the end of the day, I have to try to make things right.”
Leonard said he is working on a payment arrangement with the golf course, who he called “great hosts” for the event.
While he does not know how much the company will be able to contribute, he plans to personally contact the charities, for which he said he is “an advocate,” and make a contribution.
WTOP reached back out to Babe-Thomas after speaking with Leonard, and she said she hopes he follows through with his promise to contribute to Community Bridges.
“I do hope he contacts us, and would like him to make things right,” Babe-Thomas said.
Sullivan said he also hopes the Lady Lions see a donation from the event.
“If they (tournament organizers) used our name, we should get compensation,” Sullivan said.
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