The dismantled remains of one of Richmond’s most charitable companies has started demanding the return of some of its gifts, the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch reported on Sunday. While the now-bankrupt blood-testing firm Health Diagnostic Laboratory enjoyed years from 2008-15 as one of Richmond’s fastest-growing companies, it simultaneously earned a reputation for philanthropy, but HDL’s swift downfall and 2015 bankruptcy on the heels of a federal investigation into whether it paid doctors illegal kickbacks for using its service has left many of those gifts in jeopardy as the company’s bankruptcy trustee attempts to recoup more than $600 million for its creditors. Co-founder and former CEO Tonya Mallory was well-known for her charitable tendencies. In 2011, HDL gave $2.35 million to the Science Museum of Virginia, at the time the largest corporate gift the museum had received. In addition to the large gifts, HDL gave smaller contributions throughout the community — from sponsoring a viewing of a health-focused documentary to donating to area private schools. In a complaint that Richard Arrowsmith, HDL’s liquidating trustee, filed in September against Mallory and dozens of other former HDL executives and employees, he claims that HDL “squandered millions of dollars through inappropriate corporate sponsorship and large charitable gifts.” The trustee’s legal counsel has sent demand letters to various area organizations in which it calls the donations “fraudulent transfers.”
