The State Board found that Freeman-Wilson issued grants from the $1.39 million payment Indiana received for work on the national tobacco settlement.

[7] In July 2007, Hythiam Inc., the company that was licensing the Prometa protocol and that was owned by convicted fraudster Terren Peizer, named Freeman-Wilson to its board of directors.

[9] In April 2011, Rudy Clay announced he was ending his re-election campaign due to prostate cancer, annd endorsed Karen Freeman-Wilson as his successor, asking his supporters to vote for her.

[14] During her tenure as mayor, Freeman-Wilson appeared in a December 21, 2016, episode of Undercover Boss, in which she was disguised as a long-haired woman from Nashville, Tennessee with a Southern accent.

The episode highlighted wage and infrastructure challenges related to Gary's tight budget and allowed the mayor to evaluate ways to improve working conditions.

Since there were no other contenders on the November general election ballot, Prince officially succeeded her in office on January 1, 2020, two days after he had been sworn in as the city's 21st mayor.