YO! GREENSBORO

To shield “the shield”, Vaughan may have exposed an entire city to legal risk.

By Eric Robert for Yo!Greensboro

“We are in receipt of your email. Attorney Watts will respond upon his return from a legal conference and his annual family vacation.”
Mayor Nancy Vaughan, June 4, 2025

“Your Honor, I am Chuck Watts. I am special counsel to Cyberlux Corporation and I represent Mark Schmidt as well.”
Chuck Watts, June 9, 2025, via Zoom in a Harris County, TX Courtroom.

Did Mayor Nancy Vaughan mislead a constituent or was she misled by one of the city’s highest paid employees?
Well, at this point, does it even matter?

Being an uniformed mayor may get you a shorter deposition, but it certainly does not absolve you of potential negligence… especially when it results in exposing taxpayers to significant, real financial risk.

While the mayor told a constituent that Greensboro’s City Attorney was off attending legal conference and on an “annual family vacation”, Chuck Watts was, in fact, appearing, on record, in a Texas courtroom defending a troubled defense contractor and its CEO.

Cyberlux, the company in question, is a publicly traded entity under federal receivership, currently named in 13 active lawsuits across multiple states, including a federal tax lien exceeding $550,000, and multiple creditor claims.

According to the June 9 court transcript from Harris County, Cyberlux faces accusations of financial misconduct, failure to pay employees, and allegedly attempting to “abscond” with $25 million in federal funds.
Meanwhile, Chuck Watts, who earns $315,670 annually from Greensboro taxpayers, also serves as attorney for Cyberlux and its CEO Mark Schmidt, a Nevada-registered company operating out of a Durham address.

Is it just me or is it truly insane, not to mention legally, ethically, and functionally untenable for a full-time municipal attorney to represent a public company, especially one under federal scrutiny, while simultaneously acting as the chief legal officer of a city of over 300,000.

To make matters worse, Chuck Watts has been officially listed on the OTC Markets Prohibited Service Providers list, a designation that bars him from submitting legal or financial opinions or certifications to OTC Markets on behalf of publicly traded companies.

Yet, public records now confirm that Watts used his official City of Greensboro email account, during regular work hours, to conduct business on behalf of Cyberlux.

That in itself, breaches basic ethical boundaries and, depending on what further discovery reveals, could expose the city to serious liability.

If Watts also used staff, city resources, or influence to further Cyberlux’s interests, Greensboro could be dragged into years of litigation… Especially now that Mayor Vaughan admitted to knowing about his multiple roles, justifying them by saying, “It happens in other cities”, like somehow, in her bizarro conflicted world, that makes it ok?

Should the company’s legal and financial troubles worsen, thousands of beneficial shareholders may face real losses…at that time, they may begin to ask who enabled it.

If Greensboro’s City Attorney used his public office, salary, and resources to moonlight for a defense contractor mired in litigation, and if the mayor allowed it…we may be staring down potential legal liability that could cost the city millions.

So while Greensboro property owners brace for the upcoming property tax revaluation, we might want to budget a little extra.

Because Chuck Watts’ private business dealings, and Mayor Vaughan’s protection of them, may end up costing us all a whole lot more.