David Gardner, the former chairman of the board of J. Paul Getty Trust, has returned nearly $100,000 of the money he was paid to write a coffee-table book on the history of the arts institution after he left the board in 2004 but never produced.
The Getty asked Gardner to pay back the money after an internal investigation concluded that the book deal violated tax laws prohibiting excess compensation and self-dealing, Getty spokesman Ron Hartwig said Friday.
The announcement comes after The Times reported in June that former Getty Chief Executive Barry Munitz awarded Gardner the deal months after Gardner helped Munitz secure a new five-year employment contract opposed by some board members.
Plans for the book, which was to have commemorated the Getty's 25th anniversary, were canceled in March, a month after Munitz resigned amid turmoil at the nonprofit foundation but not before Gardner had collected $178,000 over 19 months.
The $99,871 Gardner has returned includes interest on the excess compensation, more than $2,000 in "mistaken expenses" and about $900 in pension payments he qualified for by virtue of the book deal, Hartwig said.
Gardner will keep more than $78,000 he received for 19 months of work on the project, during which, he said, he completed an outline but did not conduct an interview or write a word. Hartwig would not comment on what work Gardner had done for that payment.
"This was a legitimate project," he said. "I can't vouch for how much work he did. We relied on the fact that he was in fact working on this project."
Hartwig also refused to comment on whether the Getty had concluded the deal was a quid pro quo between Munitz and Gardner, something both men have denied.
After The Times raised questions about the deal last spring, John Biggs, then the trust's chairman, said he had asked attorneys with Munger, Tolles & Olson to investigate whether the deal involved a quid pro quo. The investigation was part of a broader review of alleged mismanagement at the Getty.
In June, Getty officials told The Times that their investigators had found no evidence of a quid pro quo between Munitz and Gardner, a former president of the University of California.
During an internal review of the transaction, one person told investigators that the book deal was intended to reward Gardner for his help with Munitz's contract, Biggs said. But he added that the statement "doesn't hold any water" and that the investigation has turned up no credible evidence.
