Now, ABC11 Troubleshooter Diane Wilson has uncovered new non-payment allegations. The foundation is being accused of not paying rent at its CJF America Durham office since June. This current complaint filed in Durham County Small Claims Court initiates the eviction process for CJF America from their Durham office in this business complex along Durham-Chapel Hill Blvd. When Wilson went to CJF's office, we found the lights out and the door locked. The management company of the building filed a complaint against CJF America, saying they are owed more than $9,600 for June, July, and August rent.
Besides this complaint, the ITEAM also found another complaint from 2023. In this case, CJF allegedly didn't pay $8,000 worth of rent for a lease at a Raleigh location. According to the property management company in the 2023 case, CJF signed the lease, but never paid the lease agreement despite multiple promises to pay. According to the court document, multiple attempts were made to contact CJF, but neither CJF nor the president of CJF, Kristen Picot, was served in the case. The property manager says they tried all the way into 2024 to serve CJF, but it never happened, and she says the judge refused to hear the case until CJF was served.
When it comes to Picot, Wilson has tried to get answers for the employees of CJF who say they are owed thousands after they got these paychecks for their weeks of work at the foundation, either as summer camp counselors or executives. Like Briana Thompson, who worked as a CJF camp counselor at the Durham camp. She says when she got her first paycheck and went to the bank, "They said that they couldn't cash our checks because it hadn't been verified." Dr. Cherisse Collins also worked for months at CJF and said her paycheck couldn't be cashed. "We went to the bank and were told that there was no money in the account," Collins adds.
Last Monday, August 11th, Wilson tracked Picot down at CJF's summer camp to get answers. Wilson asked, "You have to have the answer for your employees. They worked for you for months, for weeks." Picot replied, "And we are, we are literally gonna, we're literally taking care of everything. They will be taken care of." Picot didn't want to elaborate on how employees would get paid; instead wanted to wait until after the kids got picked up from camp. She told Wilson that she would talk to her at 6:00 in depth and even shook hands, agreeing to be there.
Despite that handshake for a 6:00 meeting, Picot said the time no longer worked. CJF's Director of External Communications emailed Wilson asking for the meeting to move to Tuesday at 6:00 so Picot could speak with "full transparency and accuracy on staff compensation matters and disbursement updates," along with other topics CJF wanted to discuss. Wilson agreed to Tuesday at 6:00, but we never heard again from Picot until after 6:00 on Tuesday about a location. To date, the meeting still has not happened despite several attempts.
CJF did pay one of their obligations we've been investigating. After Wilson's stories, they did pay The Chicken Hut the $3,400 the Durham restaurant was owed for providing meals to CJF's Durham summer camp.
Troubleshooter Diane Wilson has reached out to Picot and CJF a number of times but has not heard back. In our previous reporting, Picot said in a statement that, "CJF America is currently addressing all outstanding compensation matters through legal counsel. Those who may be impacted will receive direct communication from our legal representatives."