Walmart says $20K of NFL player layaway donation handled improperly

Walmart said Tuesday that $20,000 of Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack’s donation to pay off layaways at a Fort Pierce, Fla., store was handled improperly. 

“We appreciate Khalil Mack’s generosity in paying off layaway items for hundreds of customers in the Fort Pierce community,” spokeswoman Delia Garcia said in an email to The Hill. “Based on an extensive internal review, we have determined the store did not handle the transaction in keeping with Walmart’s guidelines and have taken corrective action.”

Walmart determined the transaction was flawed but that employees didn’t misuse the funds as TCPalm reported earlier Tuesday.

The spokesperson told TCPalm the layaways added up to $60,000 but that an $80,000 donation was made and that a “representative” of Mack’s foundation, not the foundation itself, approved of employees benefiting.

The newspaper reported that it was unknown whether the layaways for employees who benefited existed before the donation and whether Mack’s foundation was informed and approved of employee layaways being paid off.

The foundation did not immediately return a request from The Hill for comment.

Mack’s donation covered more than 300 layaway accounts for the store, manager Mathias Libardi told TCPalm, but he and Garcia did not say whether that figure included employees who already had layaways, how many employees benefited or whether managers were included.

The football player did not know how the money was being spent, and a Walmart employee who did not reap benefits told company officials, Fox 32 Chicago reported Dec. 19. Employees involved were reportedly suspended pending the investigation.