Amid several controversies surrounting the J. Paul Getty Trust, Barry Munitz has resigned as head, repay the organization $250,000 and forego a severance without admitting any wrongdoing. Again as we have seen recently, a confidentiality clause in the severance agreement limits our knowledge of more details.
Here is the Getty Trust press release, which can't be found on the Getty web site. And still here is the LA Times article from last June that first described the lavish spending, outside income (akin to double dipping), and use of museum resources by Dr. Munitz to pursue personal interests.
The LA Times has reported on a number of issues relating to the Getty Trust:
- Marion True, a curator (now ex) on trial in Italy accused of knowingly receiving looted items,
- Board member Barbara Fleischman resigning last month after making personal loans to that same curator after the museum closed a $20 million deal to acquire her collection
- The lavish spending, travel, and pay of Dr. Munitz, some only disclosed in footnotes in tax filings
- A lack of transparency that prompted the Council on Foundations late last year to put the Trust on probation as part of a relatively new process for monitoring ethics and accountability
Despite the Getty Museum's international reputation and reach (and nearly $10 billion in assets), many of these stories are treated as local or specialty interest. It looks like only the New York Times and the Times of London produced a byline story going beyond the LA Times & AP coverage. Yet of particular universal interest here are not only the issues of board accountability and executive compensation, but also the importance of paying attention to the severance agreement whenever leaders depart under a cloud.
Barry Munitz has been controversial both in his tenure at the Getty Trust and previously as Chancellor of the California State University system. Prior to that, he was vice-chairman of Maxxam, Inc. and was involved in the administrations of both Pete Wilson and Gray Davis.
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