Organizations say they weren't paid out after Ray Leonard, Jr.'s charity golf tournament

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Two charities and a golf course are all waiting for money they’re owed after a celebrity golf tournament. 

Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard's son, Ray Leonard, Jr., hosted the competition last October but a lot of people tell FOX 5 they’re still waiting to be paid out.

The tournament was intended to celebrate women's empowerment and benefit local girls and women's organizations — at least that is what the website says. But now, five months later there are still questions on where the money went. 

Leonard, Jr., is the CEO of Leonard Sports Management. He says he was starting his company back up when a friend suggested a golf tournament. 

They found two organizations in Maryland both listed on the website beneficiaries that aligned with the goal of championing women's sports — the Lady Lions of Baltimore and Community Bridges of Silver Spring. 

Community Bridges Executive Director Shannon Babe-Thomas was excited at the opportunity. She brought out volunteers to work the day with the expectation of a donation that never happened.  

"There is not a contract but I do have emails, comments in the Instagram, saying a check is coming and we haven’t received anything," Babe-Thomas says.

Neither have the Lady Lions or the Lakewood Country Club where there is an outstanding $25,000 balance. They tell FOX 5 they rejected a payment plan of $500 a month and have yet to settle on an agreement.  

"Absolutely we will proceed with a lawsuit against him, his LLC and all parties involved," said Mitchell Rubenstein, treasurer of Lakewood Country Club. "If I had to guess now, I would sue him for fraud. I would sue him for breach of contract, I would sue for quantum meruit and I would sue him for the theft by deception." 

Leonard, Jr. tells FOX 5 he was not involved in the day-to-day planning of the event, leaving it to those running it. He claims it was never a charity event — his company is for profit — and that they didn't make any money. 

"If we made proceeds, proceeds we're going to go to the charities. But unfortunately, we didn't make anything. Well, I mean, I'm in the hole, and it's up to me to try to rectify everything, because my name is all over the tournament," Leonard, Jr. said.

FOX 5 was unable to get an exact amount of money brought in but the event manager, Marquis Evans, says it was roughly $40,000 and claims that he paid for two vendors out of his own pocket. 

He says there should be no confusion on what the event was or how much it cost and the biggest loser in all of this is the charities.

"The charities lose faith and hope in projects like this because, when people do things like this, it hurts the charities the most and it hurts the reputation of quality people doing great work out there in community. So, that's the toughest part," Evans said. "On behalf of the charities they deserve better. They absolutely deserve better."

Leonard says he is still doing a postmortem. Despite claims from several organizations, he says he delivered on his promise to host an event that got the charities thousands of views and helped raise awareness to push women’s empowerment forward.