NEW ORLEANS — In the city that turns fun and festivity into an art form, Carnival is the pinnacle. And while some traditions go back more than a century, the all-female parading Krewe of Nyx became a major attraction in less than a decade.
A rapid sequence of controversies over the past year, however, has put a harsh spotlight on the super krewe.
Fault lines first began to appear when founder and captain-for-life Julie Lea posted a meme on Instagram declaring “All Lives Matter.” She made the post during the national upheaval over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.
Many krewe members found the post offensive.
Lea publicly apologized for the post, both in a letter published on NOLA.com and privately to Nyx members. Lea wrote, in part, that she sought “to be a voice of unity, but fell short.”
Won't say 'Black Lives Matter"
But when some of Lea's associates met with her privately and urged her to embrace the phrase “Black Live Matter” as a sign of support for the growing movement to combat racial inequality, Lea drew a bright line.
“She made it very clear that she was never going to say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ said one of the krewe members who met privately with Lea, urging her to tamp down the controversy by using the phrase.
“That was the breaking point. And that's why everybody left the krewe,” said ex-member Vee George, previously a close friend of Lea.
Nyx members resigned by the dozens. High school bands announced they would no longer march with the krewe.
“It was ill-timed, ignorant. It showed no awareness of what was going on in the country at the time,” ex-member Holly McKenney said.
Weeks later, Lea and the krewe found themselves on the defense again, this time over a 2015 amendment to the bylaws requiring members to be born female, effectively eliminating trans women.
“I'm not willing to put my time and money behind any crew that isn't willing to vocally say Black Lives Matter, trans lives matter,” said Sable Switch, former krewe member and leader in the LGBTQ community.
“It just wasn't something that I could stand for,” McKenney said.
Class action lawsuit
The blow-up was just the beginning. Testimonials from disheartened former members soon popped up on Facebook Live Zoom calls, using the title “Nyxed,” drawing thousands of views.
McKenney, a college professor and social worker, was among them and is now one of five lead plaintiffs in a class-action civil lawsuit against Nyx, Julie Lea and her husband Chris Lea.
The lawsuit goes far beyond hot-button social issues.
“This is about the financial mismanagement of a multi-million dollar organization,” said Suzy Montero, one of the two attorneys who filed the suit, which seeks to be a RICO action by trying to prove racketeering and corruption.
The suit was launched after Lea refused refunds to members who dropped out amid the controversies and ongoing coronavirus pandemic The sweeping allegations unfold like a pulp novel about the dark underbelly of New Orleans Carnival, making claims of “unfettered power,” “self-dealing” and “fraud.”
“The fraud, misrepresentation and deceptive acts of Julie Lea offend established policy and are immoral, unethical, oppressive, unscrupulous and substantially injurious,” the attorneys state in the suit.
Montero and attorney Taetrece Harrison said they have done considerable research into the krewe’s finances and seek to prove a racketeering conspiracy at the hands of criminal enterprise.
Through the attorney for Nyx and Lea, Doug Sunseri, Lea declined to be interviewed.
Sunseri dismisses the lawsuit’s allegations as meritless. He said any organization with more than 3,000 members is bound to have internal squabbles. As for charges of misconduct, he said he will beat those in court.
“I've heard a bunch of allegations, but I haven't seen any beef,” Sunseri said.
'Ma'am you've been sued'
The plaintiffs’ attorneys say all of this legal mess could have been avoided if Nyx had simply paid refunds to 28 women who asked for them.
“Twenty-eight cases that were in small claims court,” Harrison said. “They were just suing for the refund of their of their dues.”
Instead of paying off the relatively small amounts, ranging from $150 to $950 and requested in small claims court in hand-written petitions, Nyx escalated the battle. By filing for a judgment against seven of the women in Civil Court for a blanket ruling, called a declaratory action, they essentially declared war on women who just wanted their money back.
“It's rattling and disconcerting when a sheriff comes and knocks on your door and says, good morning, ma'am, you've been sued,” Harrison said.
Businesswoman Vee George and Lea had been close friends. George said she and Lea socialized, spent time with each other’s families, and even embarked on a cruise together. But as an active and devoted krewe member, and a Certified Public Accountant, George began questioning some of Lea's business practices.
“It was cash, cash, cash. Every time you turn around,” George said.
While George is not one of the plaintiffs, some things that made George suspicious are now spelled out in the lawsuit.
For example, krewe members couldn't buy just any safety harness to ride on a float. A city safety requirement, harnesses are cords that attach riders to a float to keep them from falling off.
“We can get it from another crew that we rode with, but she wants us to get it from that particular company,” George said.
The krewe’s bylaws required members to buy their harnesses from a specific company, Crescent City Innovations, which is owned by Lea's husband, Chris Lea, according to state incorporation records.
“Each member must ride with the safety harness issued by the Krewe of Nyx,” the krewe’s membership application states. “Harnesses are $25.00. They are mandatory. No Exceptions. Every member is expected to wear her harness the entire ride. A violation of this rule will result in the termination of your membership.“
Switch immediately questioned the purchase.
“Is there must be something special about this harness that I can't use the three other harnesses I have from being another krewes?” Switch asked.
Members also found it odd that on top of dues to ride in the parade, they had to pay additional cash for access to the floats to load their throws, according to the suit.
“Why do we now have to pay an additional five dollars?” George asked.
Members also were forced to pay cash to Lea's representatives to tip the tractor drivers.
“The drivers are alleging that they never received that,” McKenney said.
Because the krewe is incorporated as a non-profit organization, some financial details are contained in its public tax forms, called 990s. The records show that Lea was paid a salary as captain, a rarity in Carnival. No other super krewe we researched pays its captain, not Endymion, Bacchus, Rex, Zulu or the other female krewe with a nighttime parade, Muses.
The tax records show that Lea was paid $40,000 in 2016, $48,205 in 2017 and $69,408 in 2018. WWL-TV found only one other krewe that pays a captain. Iris, another all-female organization, paid its captain $130,000 dollars in 2018.
Nyx even got $48,000 in federal PPP loans during the pandemic for Lea her two other salaried officers.
“There are a lot of things that you wouldn't expect to happen in a Mardi Gras krewe,” Harrison said.
The suit lists additional perks that Lea enjoyed at the expense of the krewe: dinners, drinks a Gulf Shores vacation rental and access to a Lakeview apartment where krewe members say Lea stayed when she didn't want to drive back to her home in Slidell.
Lea worked hard
“Julie Lea’s reign as Captain has been characterized by personal enrichment at the expense of members of a non-profit entity,” the suit claims.
George questioned many of Lea’s expenses but gave Lea credit for working hard and putting in long hours.
“She worked constantly for, as she called it, ‘her baby,’ ” George said.
But other Nyx entities are cloaked in secrecy. “Nyx Sisters” was incorporated by Lea as a non-profit and served as a waiting list to join the krewe. The $75-dollar a person list was once long, but non-profit databases showed none of the public financial records required by the IRS.
Few people know about the launch of Nyx better than Sandy Simpson. After serving with Lea as a New Orleans police officer, Simpson was one of the krewe's co-founders. But after five years of increasing tension with Lea, Simpson was voted off the board.
“It was Julie's company if you will, and that money did not go back into the coffers,” Simpson said.
Simpson said she is not surprised by the class action lawsuit. Or another suit filed last year by Nyx's original float builder, PFJ Floats, for breach of contract. Yet another pending lawsuit was filed by the family of the spectator who was hit by a float and killed during Nyx's aborted 2020 parade.
“Because of one woman's greed and disrespect for her own sisters, this once great organization has become a laughable joke,” Simpson said. “Looking back on it now, I see where she craved the power and the attention.”
Montero, a New Orleanian who has paraded with other Carnival krewes, said there is a great irony that a frivolous Mardi Gras endeavor meant as a fun escape has become embroiled in a legal battle.
“I never in my wildest dreams thought that I'd file suit against the super krewe in New Orleans and get high five to walking down the street,” Montero said.
Nyx's website now shows it is open for new members, without paying to join a waiting list.