STATEMENT about Mr.

David Michaels, President FPA NEW YORK/ FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION

New York | November 22, 2019

In November 2017, the board of the Foreign Press Foundation, where I served as Chairperson along with the
President Mr. David Michaels, we collaborated with Mr. Thanos Dimadis - not as a journalist - but as an external
independent contractor/freelancer due to his specialization and experience in communications, business
development, and fundraising.   The project of Mr. Dimadis was to raise corporate contributions for the
Foundation, the sister entity of the Foreign Press Association NYC (founded in 1993), manage the relationships with
past, current, and new sponsors, and to implement the initiatives/benefits offered to sponsors.

All benefits that Mr. Dimadis negotiated, presented and offered on behalf of the Foreign Press Foundation and FPA,
were derived from the specific official benefits and sponsorships packages conceived and created personally by the
President Mr. David Michaels and approved by the board of the Foreign Press Foundation. During his engagement
as an independent freelancer, Mr. Dimadis was fully compliant with the instructions of the board of the Foreign
Press Foundation, respected the directions and guidelines provided by the board and President Mr. Michaels about
the benefits provided to all sponsors of the Foundation, and didn't exceed the authority granted to him by his position
as an independent contractor with the organization. Mr. Dimadis, as an independent freelancer to the Foundation,
had no exclusivity in his work with us, and our agreement had given him the right to seek any additional contractual
engagement as long as he fulfilled the fundraising expectations of the board of the Foreign Press Foundation.

When I discovered, as the Chairperson of the Foreign Press Foundation, Mr. David Michaels' malfeasance in
November 2018, I demanded financial accountability and governmental changes, which Mr. Michaels refused. After
Mr. Michaels declined to comply with the fiscal responsibility requested by the board of the Foreign Press
Foundation, I - followed by the majority of the board - resigned. Mr. Dimadis subsequently decided to terminate his
independent engagement with the Foreign Press Foundation. 

In April 2019, a new organization was established named the Association of Foreign Correspondents (AFC-USA)
with an expanded mandate for educational and scholarship programs serving all genre of foreign journalists. The
new organization (AFC-USA) offers no benefits to our sponsors and supporters and follows strictly our code of
ethics and Bylaws (please see website). We selected Mr. Dimadis to be the President/Executive Director due to the
outstanding efforts of his work in the previous organization, his successful career background as a foreign journalist,
and his potential to bring real value to our new organization. 

After we all resigned from the previous organizations (FPF and FPA) due to Mr. Michaels' malfeasance,   Mr.
Michaels has been attempting to block the new organization by spreading defamatory lies personally against Mr.
Dimadis and attacking our members, supporters, and sponsors. We have a copy of the letter from Mr. Michaels to
BAYER in May 2019, pleading for their continued support and defaming Mr. Dimadis and the new organization. 

Mr. Michaels attacks and denigrates everyone from the new organization because he attempts to prevent the
evolvement of the AFC-USA. I now believe we must report Mr. Michaels and those associated with him to the
proper authorities for his unethical and illegal practices. For all parties interested in the story, it is their responsibility
to contact us to learn the truth. 
Nancy Prager-Kamel
Chair of the Board and Founding Director
Association of Foreign Correspondents-USA
ForeignPressCorrespondents.org
Contact@ForeignPressCorrespondents.org