The administrative whirlwind at the Philadelphia Art Museum (PhAM) continues. After former Director and CEO Alexandra \u201cSasha\u201d Suda filed a complaint accusing the museum of unlawful termination, PhAM is countering with its own legal filing, alleging that Suda misappropriated thousands of dollars in museum funds.<\/p>\n
On November 20, the museum filed a petition with the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to shift the conflict out of the courts and into the hands of a confidential arbitrator. The move was in response to Suda\u2019s lawsuit against the museum<\/a> on November 10, six days after she was terminated<\/a>. Last week, PhAM announced that former Metropolitan Museum of Art leader Daniel Weiss would be its next director and CEO<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In her complaint, Suda claimed that a \u201csmall, corrupt faction of the [museum] board\u201d had commissioned an external law firm to conduct a \u201csham investigation\u201d into her expenses and recommended her resignation. But the museum\u2019s motion alleges that between March 2024 and July 2025, Suda awarded herself three unauthorized salary increases without disclosure or approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement to Hyperallergic, a PhAM spokesperson confirmed that the museum filed the petition in response to Suda\u2019s claims and declined to comment further.\u00a0<\/p>\n Luke Nikas, Suda\u2019s lawyer, said in an emailed statement to Hyperallergic that \u201cthe motion, as well as its false narrative, fits the Museum\u2019s longstanding pattern of trying to cover up its misconduct and mistreatment of staff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe expected the Museum would prefer to hide the sordid details about its unlawful treatment of Sasha Suda in a confidential arbitration,\u201d Nikas continued. \u201cIf the Museum had nothing to hide, it would not be afraid to litigate in state court where we filed the case.\u201d<\/p>\n Suda accused the museum of unlawful termination and multiple employment agreement violations and is seeking two years of severance pay at her contracted salary rate ($720,000 annually), alleging that she was dismissed \u201cwithout valid basis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The museum, however, argues that she was terminated \u201cfor cause\u201d and is not entitled to severance pay as the external investigation concluded that she engaged in \u201cdishonesty, misappropriation, breach of fiduciary duty as the Director or fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n Suda had negotiated her starting salary at PhAM to be $720,000, the museum petition said, and the board explicitly noted that \u201cabsent extraordinary performance, she would not receive any additional increase in her compensation during the contract term.\u201d Although the compensation committee denied Suda\u2019s multiple requests for pay increases between 2023 and 2025, she awarded herself two unauthorized pay bumps effective in March and July 2024, respectively, the petition alleged. Suda never disclosed these increases, which included a third that was allegedly instituted this July, PhAM added. The museum\u2019s petition also accuses Suda of unilaterally approving pay bumps for other staff members without committee approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n PhAM then asked Suda to produce documents related to her compensation, which served as the basis for the external law firm\u2019s investigation, the institution said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Per Suda\u2019s account, she had declined a scheduled pay increase in the first year of her five-year contract but received a standard 3% cost-of-living adjustment to her salary that had been approved by the museum\u2019s new chief financial officer in 2024. She argued that the raise \u2014 \u201capproximately $39,000 over two years\u201d as her complaint states \u2014 was factored into the museum\u2019s budget, cleared by the finance department, and transparently noted on the institution\u2019s 990 form<\/a> reviewed by the compensation committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Museum\u2019s accusations are false,\u201d Nikas told Hyperallergic. \u201cThese are the same recycled allegations from the sham investigation that the Museum manufactured as a pretext for Suda\u2019s wrongful termination.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The museum board\u2019s executive committee voted unanimously to terminate Suda on October 27 in light of the investigation\u2019s findings, but gave her the option of voluntarily resigning from her roles \u201cto limit any adverse publicity,\u201d PhAM\u2019s complaint stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n