Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way by Jon Krakauer Read Free Book Online

communicating with the staff at all. ”
    Three Cups of Tea never mentions this aspect of Mortenson ’ s personality, although it frequently refers to his chronic tardiness. David Relin, Mortenson ’ s co-author, writes in the introduction, “ During the two years we worked together on this book, Mortenson was often so maddeningly late for appointments that I considered abandoning the project. ” On page 39, Mortenson ’ s mother says, “ Greg has never been on time in his life … . Ever since he was a boy, Greg has always operated on African time. ” In 1998, Mortenson showed up three weeks late for a rendezvous in China with his friend Scott Darsney, who was kept waiting in Beijing until Greg finally appeared. Mortenson ’ s aversion to punctuality is presented in Three Cups as if it were an endearing quirk. To a number of people who worked with Mortenson over the years, however, his habitual lateness — like his habitual lying — seemed more pathological than quirky.
     
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    until recently, I didn ’ t know that the most dramatic anecdotes in Three Cups of Tea were fabricated, but by 2004 I had begun to suspect that Mortenson was improperly using CAI funds. After Tom Hornbein, Sally Uhlmann, and Gordon Wiltsie resigned from the CAI board of directors, I asked Wiltsie, who had served as the board treasurer, why he left. “ Greg, ” he replied, “ regards CAI as his personal ATM. ” Wiltsie described how Mortenson would routinely charge personal expenses to CAI, and seldom provided receipts or other documentation for any of his expenditures, no matter how persistently Wiltsie pleaded with him to do so.
    At that point, I had donated more than $75,000 to CAI. On March 23, 2004, I sent a fax to Mortenson ’ s office:
 
I have decided to suspend my financial support of CAI for the indefinite future. I didn ’ t make this decision lightly. After interviewing several of the people who recently left the board of directors I lost confidence in Greg ’ s accountability. I feel that I cannot continue to give such large sums of money (they seem large to me, at any rate) to an organization run with so little oversight and such lax accounting practices. It is possible that I may decide to support CAI again at some future date. But not until CAI has installed a strong, active board of directors who keep close tabs on how the organization is run. Make no mistake: I still believe in CAI ’ s mission, but I am made extremely uneasy by Greg ’ s way of running the show. Although I don ’ t want to make any public statements that would have a negative impact on Greg ’ s work, I no longer feel comfortable providing financial backing, or lending my name, to CAI.
     
    Debbie Raynor, CAI ’ s chief financial officer at the time, remembers this missive well, because it matched her own experiences with Mortenson so precisely. When my letter rattled out of the CAI fax machine, she had been trying, unsuccessfully, to persuade Mortenson to document his expenses for the previous eight months. She had come on board as CFO in July 2003, and her duties soon expanded to include staff supervisor and board treasurer. By the summer of 2004, however, Mortenson ’ s conduct made it impossible for Raynor to continue working for CAI in good conscience. As she explained in a memo to the CAI board of directors,
 
there were no meaningful financial policies or procedures in place when I started my employment. I endeavored to rectify that situation and bring about necessary and much needed financial controls … . These new policies were fully discussed and implemented with full approval by Mr. Mortenson. The staff readily complied with these new policies ensuring an accurate account of expenses. However, Mr. Mortenson has failed to comply in any meaningful manner with these policies … . Since the start of my employment, Mr. Mortenson has spent over $100,000 on CAI ’ s credit cards. Mr. Mortenson has never provided any receipts