Lloyd Williams, director of both the nonprofit Harlem Week Inc. and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, paid his own for-profit firm $157,469 in 2009 from Harlem Week funds. The firm, LMR Productions, has reaped $587,383 from Harlem Week Inc. in the past four years, according to tax filings. The money is for "solicitation fees," although the nature of the expenses is not further explained in the tax documents. The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce pays for LMR Productions' services as well, a total of $123,069 in 2009 and 2010. A firm owned by Williams' wife, Harlem Renaissance Tours, got $1,800 from the chamber in 2010.
The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce is funded with membership dues and state grants, and is supported by pols, including Rep. Charles Rangel, who obtained a $282,000 earmark for it in 2008 from the Small Business Administration. Williams is a longtime supporter of Rangel, having donated $7,100 to him or his PAC between 1999 and 2010.
Rangel's office claimed the earmark was meant "to create jobs and increase economic development opportunities." But how the money was spent is unclear.
Williams has not returned calls for comment.