ORLANDO, Fla. – The foundation created to build a memorial to honor the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting was insolvent and unable to pay its creditors before dissolving, according to documents obtained by News 6.
The Articles of Dissolution and the Plan of Dissolution for the onePulse Foundation were submitted to the Florida Department of State on Dec. 28 after being approved by its nine remaining board members on Dec. 20.
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Three board members, George Kalogridis, Cathy Brown-Butler and Andrew Snyder, would be responsible for filing documents with the state.
Those documents confirmed that onePulse Foundation would cease to operate as of Dec. 31, 2023.
The foundation’s website is void of any information and now provides an email address for more information.
The Plan of Dissolution also laid out the plans for the foundation to return the property where the proposed museum would have been built to Orange County.
onePulse surrendered the property to the county in October, and according to the Orange County Comptroller, the deed transfer is being processed.
On Thursday, The Florida Department of State announced that attorneys for onePULSE agreed to a settlement and repaid $394,321 in state grant money tied to the property and the failed museum.
“Taxpayers expect the State of Florida to be good stewards of their money. The money provided by the grant to onePULSE Foundation was authorized by the Florida Legislature for a specific purpose,” said Secretary of State Cord Byrd. “The Foundation failed to fulfill the requirements set forth in the grant. Through our efforts, the money is now being returned to the State, and the Legislature will determine the best use of these monies to honor the memory of the victims.”
If the county had not accepted the return of the property, the articles directed the foundation to conduct a sale of the property and distribute funds “as required by state statute.”
Some donors had been seeking refunds after onePulse announced their decision to dissolve in November.
According to the Articles of Dissolution, onePulse admitted it had no money left.
“The Company is insolvent and funds will be insufficient to pay unsecured creditors in full,” the document read.
What’s next
In October, the city of Orlando purchased the land that Pulse Nightclub sits on from nightclub owner – and former onePulse executive director -- Barbara Poma for $2 million.
Mayor Buddy Dyer and Commissioner Patty Sheehan have told News 6 the city now plans to take over the design and construction of a memorial.
They said the city will take donations to make the project happen with a city-managed non-profit organization overseeing the funds.
They said the project is still in the beginning stages, but they expressed a deep desire to involve the families of the victims as much as possible.
