Latest: Legal
Linda Greene, 73, president and CEO of Impact With Hope, a faith-based charity based in Perrysburg, Ohio, posted $5,000 against $50,000 bail. Greene’s need for bail stems from her allegedly continuing to serve as leader of Impact With Hope, including continuing to solicit funds. That’s in violation of a 2021 indictment and subsequent court order barring her from contact with Impact With Hope personnel or…
New York State Attorney General Letitia James has filed a civil complaint against two trust and estates attorneys, claiming they inappropriately diverted funds meant for a charitable foundation. According to the complaint, lawyers Paul P. Marchese and Robin S. Maynard, sole partners in Marchese & Maynard LLP of Manhasset, N.Y., inappropriately garnered more than $1.3 million from the estate of, and a foundation established by,…
Andrew Badolato and Brian Kolfage, two principals in We Build The Wall, an alleged 501(c)(4) nonprofit established to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, pled guilty to their roles in defrauding donors to the fundraising campaign. The pleas were entered before U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in the Southern District of New York. The scheme started in December 2018 as a GoFundMe campaign…
In the technical, legal sense, “whistleblowing” involves invoking formal processes established by statute for a person (usually an employee) to protect herself/himself from retaliation for reporting alleged violations of certain laws. According to Tim Delaney is the president and chief executive officer of the National Council of Nonprofits in Washington, D.C., most whistleblower laws are relatively new, as are the terms “whistleblowing” and “whistleblower.” (Neither…
Preferred Family Healthcare (PFH), Springfield, Mo., will pay the State of Arkansas and the federal government more than $8 million in forfeiture and restitution. The payments stem from alleged criminal conduct of several former employees and officers. Separate criminal cases against 10 former employees or associates are either in progress or have resulted in conviction and sentencing. Current leaders within PFH signed a non-prosecution agreement.…
Steven Peterson, executive director at Portsmouth, R.I.-based Be Great for Nate, a youth empowerment and youth suicide prevention organization, was arrested on and charged with indecent solicitation of a child, according to published reports. Peterson allegedly solicited a lewd photograph from a 15-year-old. Peterson was arraigned on but did not enter a plea, which is not unusual for felony cases initially presented in District Court.…
Seven people were indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and other crimes through promotion of fraudulent tax shelters involving syndicated conservation easements totaling more than $1 billion and going back almost two decades. A federal grand jury in Atlanta returned the indictments, according to an announcement by the United States Department of Justice. The indictment listed seven individuals: Jack Fisher, an…
An officer of a Florida-based nonprofit was charged with two felonies, for submitting false information on a document and failure to register as a charitable organization while paying board members but claiming no compensation to officers or key employees, according to state charity regulators. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), which regulates charities in the Sunshine State, issued a warrant affidavit charging…
A judge has dismissed the New York Attorney General’s attempt to dissolve the National Rifle Association (NRA) amid other claims but the pursuit of the organization and individuals for other violations can continue. Judge Joel M. Cohen of the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York issued his ruling Wednesday following a two-hour hearing in December. The allegations, if proven,…
Lashante Boyd, a former employee of social services nonprofit Center Point, San Rafael, Calif., was sentenced to three years and four months in state prison stemming from embezzlement charges, according to an announcement from California Attorney General Rob Bonta. According to Bonta’s statement, from December 2016 through April 2019 Boyd embezzled more than $600,000 from Center Point, a nonprofit that provides educational, housing, medical, psychological,…
City of Hope has completed its acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) and now plans to convert the entity into a nonprofit. The Duarte, Calif.-based nonprofit is a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center with more than $6 billion in total assets acquired the network of oncology hospitals and outpatient centers for a reported $390 million. The combined organization will serve approximately 115,000…