‘We uncovered this 10 years ago:’ Family says they sounded alarm on money missing from daughter’s special needs trust
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — 8 On Your Side continues to search for answers about the $100 million in trust fund money that went missing from a local nonprofit.
The Center for Special Needs Trust Administration filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. Two years ago, its leadership discovered $100 million trust fund dollars for people with special needs disappeared. A Colorado family said they sounded the alarm 10 years ago.
Abagayle Muszynski is now her parents’ guardian angel.
“Abby was born with a disorder called Aicardi syndrome it’s a terminal disease,” said her mother, Kimberly Muszynski. “We lived with a prognosis that she would pass early, which was extremely difficult.”
Kimberly said her daughter’s condition came with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and blindness. In November, Abagayle tragically lost her life at the age of 11.
“I’m hoping that her story will make a difference,” said Kimberly.
Richard Muszynski said a wrongful birth lawsuit was settled in 2013 because of his daughter’s condition. Abagayle received money for her parents to take care of her. Attorneys guided them to place that money in a trust with the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration.
“It was within about a year, we weren’t getting tax paperwork,” said Richard. “We weren’t getting any accounting as we promised.”
That was in 2014. The Muszynskis said it was a battle to get any information from the center. So, they took matters into their own hands and contacted Pinellas County.
“We had an internal audit done with a clerk and comptroller, and he pretty much triggered us there’s a lot of money missing,” he said.
St. Pete non-profit responds to what happened to missing $100 million
Richard said there had been more than $800,000 in Abagayle’s trust. He said it was found that between $250,000 and $350,000 went missing.
This was 10 years before the center filed for bankruptcy, claiming its founders loaned themselves $100 million.
“Who was notified? Were the authorities notified at that point?” Investigator Brittany Muller asked Richard.
“We notified the FBI immediately,” Richard responded.
“The FBI does not confirm the existence or status of any investigative work,” an agency representative said when reached for comment.
A U.S. Attorney’s Office representative said the same thing.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Kimberly. “It’s disgusting.”
The Muszynskis, who had been living in Palm Beach County at the time, went to the center in St. Pete demanding answers.
“We were denied and refused, and they filed an action against us to have us removed as trust protectors because we were questioning a lot about the money,” said Richard.
According to Palm Beach County Records, in an emergency motion in 2016, a judge removed the center as Abagayle’s trustee. Her parents claimed there was financial abuse and fraud. With $70,000 left, her parents said they transferred that money with Kansas State Trust.
That same year, the Muszynski’s moved from Florida to Colorado.
“It’s a top ADA state for disabilities and there’s a lot of resources including parental rights to be able to care for your kids with a home health care agency,” said Kimberly. “There are ton of resources that are not available in Florida that are available in Colorado we wanted to give Abby the best quality of life.”
To this day, Abagayle’s parents have never seen the money.
“We uncovered this 10 years ago and tried to get every law-enforcement agency involved so this didn’t happen and the FBI just completely failed,” said Richard.
A wound that has never healed on top of grieving their own daughter. But as this story unfolds, they feel that someone then could have prevented hundreds of others from getting their trusts drained too.
“Don’t give up hope just keep pushing keep advocating,” said Richard.
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