$400K In Philadelphia Marathon Money Used For Nutter's Trip To Rome, Hotels, Uber Rides, Shoes: Controller

PHILADELPHIA, PA — About $400,000 in profits earned from the Philadelphia Marathon were used for unapproved celebrations, open bars, hotel stays, and former Mayor Michael Nutter's trip to Rome, according to a review of the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia released by the City Controller's Office Tuesday. The review also revealed several other personal and unapproved expenditures paid for by the marathon money, which had been set up in a special reserve account earmarked strictly for approved grants that would go toward initiatives improving the city.

In City Controller Alan Butkovitz's review, however, only five of the 21 expenditures in 2014 and 2015 were related to grants. Most of the expenditures, he said on Tuesday, were credit card payments that were put through without approval. Butkovitz said the sole approval for these expenditures came from the former chair of the Fund under Nutter's administration, Desiree Peterkin Bell.

“It was clear the former chairperson substantially circumvented all policies and approvals,” Butkovitz said. “This action resulted in several questionable expenditures that raised red flags across the board.”

The largest expenditures were connected to two purchases: one for $52,000 at the Philadelphia Courtyard Marriot from September 15 through October 3 of 2015. This was during the time period of the World Meeting of Families and Pope Francis' visit to Philadelphia. But there is no evidence of a connection, and there's no record of how many rooms were booked or who stayed in them.

The second large purchase was for $45,000 for flights and hotels in Rome, Italy in June of 2015, when Nutter visited.

Other charges include:

• $45,000 - paid to vendors for 2015 Tree Lighting Ceremony
• $704 - charges for 33 Uber rides in one month
• $333 - several charges relating to lodging and food in Portland, Oregon
• $80 - for a pair of women’s shoes from Macy’s

Butkovitz described Bell's usage of the money as if it were a "special slush fund." Because the Mayor's Fund is meant to go towards projects which benefit the entire city, the use of it for personal expenditures is especially disturbing, Butkovitz said.

“I find it absolutely intolerable the former chairperson used this account to purchase shoes," he said. "It is not only wrong but downright immoral."

Approval for expenditures is supposed to come from the Board of Directors of the Mayor's Fund, which included, in 2014 and 2015, city officials David Streim, Rich Negrin Andrew Frishkoff, Anna Wallace Adams, Mami Hara, and Bobby Henon.

Patch has reached out to Peterkin Bell, 38, for comment. Just a month after Nutter left office, she entered her current position as a "Special Adviser and Consultant" for the Democratic National Convention Committee, according to her LinkedIn profile.

In January, just after current Mayor Jim Kenney took office, Peterkin Bell was the subject of a public feud between Nutter and Kenney. Nutter reportedly asked Kenney for a favor - to keep Peterkin Bell on the city's payroll for another month after he had taken office so that she could collect her pension. However, Kenney said that Nutter had only asked for four days, Philly.com reports, and fired her before she could collect her pension.

The Controller's office said that they had submitted a series of improvements and amendments to improve the Mayor's Fund to help insure that a similar misuse does not happen in the future. Butkovitz added that he was continuing with a more comprehensive investigation into the Mayor's Fund dating back to 2008, and that he hoped to present his findings soon.