Read the Art Museum’s accusations against Sasha Suda in its new petition
“Given Suda’s misconduct, no responsible board member could have done anything other than vote to remove Suda for cause."
The Philadelphia Art Museum’s trustees responded to the lawsuit filed by recently-ousted director and CEO Sasha Suda, saying she was dismissed after an investigation determined that she “misappropriated funds from the museum and lied to cover up her theft.”
On Thursday, the museum filed a petition in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas that says Suda repeatedly asked for raises, and when she was denied them by the museum board’s compensation committee, she took matters into her own hands.
“Given Suda’s misconduct, no responsible board member could have done anything other than vote to remove Suda for cause,” says the petition, which asks the court to compel arbitration of the dispute. Suda had requested a trial by jury.
“The museum’s accusations are false,” Suda’s lawyer, Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan said Friday.
“If the museum had nothing to hide, it would not be afraid to litigate in state court where we filed the case.”
In her original complaint, Suda claims she was “terminated when her efforts to modernize the museum clashed with a small, corrupt, and unethical faction of the board intent on preserving the status quo. The museum, in their petition said her complaint was “laden with false, dishonest, and irrelevant allegations.”
Read the full petition here:
Additional reporting by Abraham Gutman.