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by WILL FOLKS
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Federal prosecutors are petitioning a judge to impose specific pre-trial bond conditions on Lamonica “Monti” Valrie, a Florida developer who stands accused of defrauding South Carolina’s Allen University and related entities of millions of dollars tied to a football stadium his company was supposed to build.
Valrie, 58, of Hollywood, Florida, was indicted last week for wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the alleged scheme – which the feds say defrauded Allen, the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church and other victims of more than $6 million. According to prosecutors in the office of U.S. attorney Bryan Stirling, Valrie partnered with Allen in August of 2023 – promising to build the university a free football stadium as part of a proposed mixed-use development in Columbia, S.C.
“Valrie did not have sufficient funding sources to develop, construct, or build a stadium,” prosecutors alleged. “In January 2024, he secured an amendment to the agreement obligating AU to pay him up to $3 million to expedite the construction of the stadium and to provide a playable field by the start of the 2024 football season. The agreement explicitly required Valrie to use the expedite fee to advance the project. Valrie secured a $500,000 lump sum from AU, plus $70,000 per month from AU to expedite the construction of the stadium. The indictment further alleges that Valrie defrauded the AME Church of approximately $154,000 in other stadium related funds.”
Allen paid Valrie $70,000 per month through July 2025, prosecutors alleged, even as no work was undertaken on the project.
“No stadium was ever built,” prosecutors noted. “Instead, Valrie spent the funds on personal luxury purchases including exotic supercars, jewelry, luxury goods, a yacht charter, and a high-end rental home in south Florida.”
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Allen’s football team has competed in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) since relaunching in 2018. It currently plays its home games at Charles F. Bolden Stadium – a 5,500-seat facility located approximately two-and-a-half miles northeast of the S.C. State House. The school’s new stadium was supposed to be constructed off of Cushman Drive (approximately four miles northeast of the State House) on land purchased by the school from Richland County.
According to former Allen trustee Karol Widemon Montgomery, school leaders approved the project in the summer of 2023 – even though they never saw a contract or conducted a background check on Valrie.
Over the weekend, Valrie gave an interview to The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier in which he styled himself as a “whistleblower” exposing corrupt church and university figures – likening his arrest to the U.S. raid against terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“They act like they found bin Laden in here,” he told the paper.
According to Valrie, he was ferreting out misconduct on the part of school officials – and the AME church. According to federal prosecutors, he’s a fraudster who was living the high life with pilfered funds.
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Facing two decades in prison, Valrie was released from custody in Florida last week on a $100,000 unsecured bond. Federal prosecutors now want to add several conditions to his release – arguing “his history, character, and past conduct indicate that he will recklessly exhaust any remaining funds to prevent identified victims from obtaining a meaningful recovery.”
Specifically, the feds want Valrie’s bond modified to prevent him from making any purchases exceeding $500 without pre-approval from authorities – and to ensure he does not “obtain any new debt or credit obligations without prior written notice and authorization.”
They also want Valrie to disclose any “real estate development or other business negotiations, deals or outstanding proposals” in which he is involved so as “to protect the public from potential, additional financial crimes.”
Included in Valrie’s alleged “reckless exhaustion” of funds was more than $550,000 spent on “exotic car rentals between” June of 2022 and October of 2025.
“Examination of Valrie’s financial accounts indicate that he used funds fraudulently obtained from the victims to rent a light blue Lamborghini Urus, a yellow Lamborghini Huracan, and a Rolls Royce Cullinan from Forza Exotics in Miami, Florida,” prosecutors alleged.
He also allegedly rented high-end properties “rather than purchasing real estate that could later be seized,” the motion for bond reconsideration added.
Federal prosecutors further alleged that upon Valrie’s arrest, agents “discovered a trove of high-end luxury consumer goods including watches, purses, and jewelry,” including “designer shoes, clothes, and accessories” and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of “high-end designer handbags” belonging to Valrie’s wife.
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“It is my position that the money I spent is mine,” Valrie told the Post and Courier.
Valrie is expected to be arraigned in Columbia, S.C. on September 29, 2026. He has said he will plead “not guilty.”
In the meantime, Allen University has declined to comment on the ongoing federal investigation.
“Allen University has leader of the indictment against Lamonica ‘Monti’ Valrie,” a statement posted to the school’s Facebook page noted. “At this point it would be improper for Allen University to make any public comments. Allen has full confidence in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the district of South Carolina.”
Keep it tuned to FITSNews as we track the latest developments in this saga. In the meantime, click on the link below to read the federal motion for yourself…
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THE MOTION…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
Sorry, a school with 600 students, of whom 7% will graduate in 4 years and 13% will graduate in six years, with 80% financing the whole thing with student loans, has no business worrying about a football stadium.
Also sorry they got ripped off but not surprised if graduates of Allen were involved in the deal…