Bold truth: a top executive at a major Atlanta museum stands accused of siphoning off hundreds of thousands of dollars, shaking a beloved cultural institution to its core.
The High Museum of Art’sChief Operating Officer, Brady Lum, resigned amid an ongoing investigation into the alleged disappearance of about $600,000. Investigators say the funds were missing over a span of three to four years, with the probe kicking off in early December after irregularities appeared in the museum’s financial records, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Hala Moddelmog, president of Woodruff, the parent organization that oversees the High, stated that Lum, who earned $312,374 in 2024 and ranked among the museum’s top earners, likely acted alone. Moddelmog asserted that Lum abused his executive power to divert and conceal the money over several years.
Details about the exact source of the stolen funds remain unclear, but donors have already been informed as the situation unfolds. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta has yet to decide whether to press charges.
Lum, who stepped down on December 9, joined the High in 2019 after roles at Coca‑Cola and Special Olympics International. Earlier in his career, he served as senior vice president of Coca‑Cola/Keurig Ventures North America in 2014.
The High Museum houses more than 20,000 works of art and has appeared in popular films and TV. It doubled as the fictional Museum of Great Britain in the Marvel movie “Black Panther,” where Erik Killmonger and Ulysses Klaue collaborated to steal rare African artifacts. It also stood in for Chastain Park Memorial Hospital in the TV series “The Resident.”
Filming activity nearby isn’t new either: Apple TV+ shot a segment of “Cape Fear” near the High in May of last year, drawing local notices about crews in the area.
Lum did not comment when contacted for this story.
