Dayna Clendinen, VIHFA current COO, and former acting executive director. Photo Credit: V.I. LEGISLATURE
The wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Stephanie Berry on September 3 makes new allegations about the role Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority officials may have played in facilitating payments to a company accused of fraudulently obtaining federal funds.
Among the lawsuit's many claims, some of which have already been reported by the Consortium, Ms. Berry claims that a VIHFA employee had been approving payment requests from D&S Trucking despite not being assigned to the lumber yard project.
The named employee, who in June 2023 was construction manager in the “P&C Division” according to the civil complaint, was found by Ms. Berry to have been approving timesheets and payment requests from the company owned by Davidson and Sasha Charlemagne, currently on trial for fraud. He was also reportedly approving payment requests from another company – Falken Security – for security work in the lumber yard.
When Ms. Berry asked why “he was signing off on payments when he had no direct involvement in the activities,” the employee allegedly indicated that he had been instructed to do so by current VIFHA Chief Operating Officer and Chief Disaster Recovery Officer, Dayna Clendenin, but admitted that he had nothing in writing to confirm these instructions. Ms. Clendinen served as acting executive director of VIHFA from February 2022 to April 2024, before being succeeded by Eugene Jones Jr. as executive director.
Ms. Berry claims that she advised the employee to desist from approving any further requests, but she was told to take up the issue with Ms. Clendinen. When she raised the matter with the VIHFA COO, the lawsuit claims that Ms. Clendinen “refused to agree that it was improper and refused to tell [the employee] to stop such actions.” In June 2024, the Charlemagnes were indicted along with former VIHFA COO Darin Richardson. In September, the employee reportedly left VIHFA to take up a post with the Office of Disaster Recovery, led by Adrienne Williams-Octalien.
Ms. Clendinen, according to the lawsuit, asked the VIHFA board to ratify a no-cost time extension contract with Falken Security that she had already signed months ago. Ms. Clendinen and other defendants were aware that Ms. Berry intended to disclose this information to authorities, the whistleblower complaint alleges.
