For Lamonica “Monti” Valrie, Sept. 15 began with a rude awakening.
His phone rang about 4:30 a.m., stirring him from slumber.
“This is the FBI; we are outside your house,” a voice on the other end of the line told him. “You and your family need to come outside with your hands up.”
Valrie roused his household and opened the door of his Miami-area home to see a line of police vehicles and a swarm of law enforcement agents.
The agents entered his home and began seizing items, including electronics, jewelry and luxury purses belonging to Valrie’s wife.
Valrie, 58, was arrested and charged with defrauding a business associate and a historically Black university in South Carolina of $6.1 million.
The Florida developer was stunned.
For the last year, he had been in limited communication with the FBI about alleged misconduct by the leadership at Allen University in downtown Columbia, with whom he had previously contracted to build an ill-fated football stadium and mixed-use development.
Since that business deal went bust, Valrie had formed an activist group called Citizens for Justice, created a website and sent mass emails that detailed turmoil and alleged wrongdoing at Allen. The small university of around 600 students came under FBI scrutiny in 2025 in relation to its failed attempt to use federal funds for the renovation and reuse of a historic hospital building on campus.
Communications from Citizens for Justice, including the release of secret recordings of alleged...
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