In May 2015, the entertainment producer Harvey Weinstein arranged for two items to be auctioned off at a fund-raiser for amfAR, a New York-based charity that works to cure AIDS.
The offers — a sitting with a famous fashion photographer and a package of tickets to a Hollywood film awards event and parties — came with a condition: $600,000 of the money raised at the auction, in Cannes, France, would go to the American Repertory Theater, a nonprofit playhouse that had done a trial run of “Finding Neverland,” a Broadway musical that Mr. Weinstein produced.
The theater had agreed to reimburse Mr. Weinstein and other investors for a $1.25 million payment and $500,000 charitable contribution toward the show if they could get third parties to donate those amounts, according to records of the arrangement.
Now, amfAR’s board of directors is embroiled in conflict. Some members are questioning the deal involving the auction proceeds, saying that the details were not disclosed and that the organization was not protected.
The New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, is investigating corporate governance at the charity. “Our charities bureau is working with amfAR in connection with a dispute among board members, with the goal of achieving a resolution as expeditiously as possible,” Eric Soufer, a spokesman for Mr. Schneiderman, said in a statement.