Appeals court sets date for rodeo records
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The First Court of Appeals has set May 22nd, 2019 for the latest legal arguments in the fight against secrecy in Houston’s most famous charity, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
The Rodeo has refused for months to turn over key financial records detailing, among other things, the millions of dollars being invested overseas that could have been given to Texas kids.
After Dolcefino Consulting filed a criminal complaint, the Rodeo began a campaign of legal retaliation, trying to use Texas courts to protect them while they refused to comply with the Texas charity law.
The Rodeo has been after Dolcefino Consulting since July 2018 when they unsuccessfully tried to add our company into a lawsuit. When the court turned them down, they filed a separate lawsuit in a different court. We filed a motion to transfer the case into a different court and we won.
Then the Rodeo appealed Judge Steven Kirkland’s decision to transfer our case and the Rodeo appealed.
The May hearing comes nearly six months after the Rodeo appealed Judge Kirkland’s decision. Now, our ongoing legal battle has a new plot twist.
The Rodeo has so far ignored requests for financial records on their highly profitable carnival.
Recently, for the first time in 26 years, the Rodeo sought proposals from other carnival companies. We’ve asked for the records of those proposals but so far, it looks like the Rodeo wants to hide whether competitors offered a better deal for the children who benefit from Rodeo charity.
“The Rodeo has had an exclusive deal with one vendor for more than twenty-five years, even after multiple accidents and a scary situation this year on a new ride,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “Our ongoing investigation into the Rodeo’s financial records is widening. The Rodeo is a charity that simply doesn’t want to play by the same rules as everyone else.”
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