The BBB Standards for Charity Accountability are used by BBB Wise Giving Alliance in completing evaluative reports on charities. These standards are voluntary and go beyond what is required by government regulators. From time to time, however, charities are the subject of government action by state government agencies, federal agencies, or both. If the identified charity has been the subject of a report produced by BBB Wise Giving Alliance, it will review the circumstances and timing of the issues in the case to determine if it impacts the accountability evaluation of that charity.
The information in this section is intended to provide summaries of final actions on charity cases undertaken by these authorities. This is not intended to provide information on all actions that have recently taken place but a representative sample that highlights the nature of issues that emerge in such instances. The cases noted below are taken from 2024 and 2025 annual reports (with permission) compiled by the National State Association of State Charities Officials (NASCO) which is an association of state offices (attorneys general, secretaries of state and other offices) charged with the regulation and oversight of soliciting charitable organizations in the United States. In addition, other final actions involving charities from 2024-2025 that come to the attention of BBB Wise Giving Alliance are also included in these summaries.
On this page:
I. ALLEGED DECEPTIVE SOLICITATION
II. ALLEGED GOVERNANCE ISSUES / BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY
I. ALLEGED DECEPTIVE SOLICITATION
One World Foundation (Maryland)
Maryland On February 15, 2025, Maryland issued a cease and desist order to
One World Foundation for soliciting without being registered, false/misleading solicitations, misrepresentations likely to affect a person’s decision to make a charitable contribution, submission of a materially false registration statement, and failure to include disclosure statements on canisters and written solicitations. This order, which became final when no appeal was filed, bans the organization from soliciting in the state.
DMV Futures (Maryland)
Maryland On May 15, 2025, Maryland issued a cease and desist order to
DMV Futures for false/misleading solicitations, misrepresentations likely to affect a person’s decision to make a charitable contribution, misapplication of charitable contributions, commingling of charitable contributions without proper accounting controls, failure to file annual registrations, and failure to include disclosure statements on their written solicitations. The order bans the organization from soliciting in the state.
Chrysler Counselor Corp (Maryland)
Maryland On March 25, 2025, Maryland issued a cease and desist order to
Chrysler Counselor Corp for misrepresentations in charitable solicitations, misapplication of charitable contributions, and failure to provide financial records upon request. This order bans the organization from soliciting in the state.
Destiny’s Road Animal Rescue (Massachusetts)
Massachusetts After an investigation, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office (AGO) filed suit in 2019 against
Dawn Cardinal and
Destiny’s Road Animal Rescue, the Massachusetts public charity controlled by Ms. Cardinal. As alleged in the complaint, Ms. Cardinal employed deceptive solicitation practices to raise funds for Destiny’s Road, significant amounts of which were misappropriated for her personal use. In January 2024, the AGO reached an agreement with Ms. Cardinal, memorialized in a Consent Judgment, under which she will pay $90,000 over a period of years. Those funds will be directed, under principles of
cy pres, to another public charity that also conducts animal rescue efforts. Destiny’s Road is dissolving.
David Singleton Nonprofits (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AGO) sued
David Singleton, the president of five Minnesota nonprofits, alleging that Singleton engaged in a deceptive pattern of behavior by founding or taking over nonprofits with governmental sounding names to sow confusion for his own profit. The lawsuit also alleged that Singleton engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by claiming to provide legal services despite not being a licensed legal professional. A settlement reached in the litigation bans Singleton from incorporating or leading nonprofits, dissolves the five nonprofits named in the lawsuit, and permanently bans Singleton and his for-profit from advertising that they can provide legal services of any kind.
Cancer Recovery Foundation / Women’s Cancer Fund (Multi-State)
Multi-State-FTC Matter The Federal Trade Commission (FTC); the Attorneys General of California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin; and the Secretaries of State of Maryland and North Carolina settled their September 2024 complaint against
Cancer Recovery Foundation International, Inc. d/b/a Women’s Cancer Fund (Women’s Cancer Fund) and Gregory B. Anderson (Anderson). The FTC and the states alleged that, from 2017 to 2022, Women’s Cancer Fund collected more than
$18 million from donors, claiming that it would use the donated funds to help women who were undergoing treatment for cancer and their families pay for basic needs. Instead, the complaint charged, only about a penny of every dollar donated went to provide such support, while the overwhelming majority went to pay for-profit fundraisers and the charity’s operator, Anderson. The settlement with Women’s Cancer Fund (Anderson died prior to settlement) provides for an $18.25 million suspended judgment, requires the Women’s Cancer Fund to permanently cease to conduct any business, and prohibits the organization from being reinstated. The settlement order also requires Women’s Cancer Fund’s fundraisers and other contractors to destroy all information about Women Cancer Fund’s donors.
Southern Winds Equine Rescue and Recovery Inc. (Kansas)
Kansas In April 2024, the Kansas Attorney General (AG) was awarded a default judgment against
Southern Winds Equine Rescue and Recovery Inc. (SWER), a Kansas charity, and its president for using donations for other than charitable purposes. Specifically, SWER’s president failed to properly dissolve SWER after the board approved dissolution, continued to receive donations for the next two years, and used the donations for personal and for-profit purposes. The AG obtained an order permanently enjoining the defendants from operating any charitable organization or soliciting donations in Kansas and requiring them to pay actual damages of $50,922.36. In addition, the court assessed a civil penalty. During the pendency of the litigation, SWER’s president violated a TRO and was held in contempt after a show cause evidentiary hearing.
II. ALLEGED GOVERNANCE ISSUES / BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY
AERO Institute (California)
California The
AERO Institute received funding from NASA to promote STEM in local schools. In June 2017, the Los Angeles County District Attorney filed charges against the mayor of Palmdale, who was paid by the charity as a consultant, and two of AERO’s officers/directors for embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, and grand theft, resulting in guilty pleas. In June 2021, the District Attorney filed related charges against AERO’s executive director. The Attorney General filed a complaint in the Los Angeles County Superior Court to involuntarily dissolve AERO. In June 2024, the Court entered judgment involuntarily dissolving AERO and distributing more than $1 million in its remaining assets to other charities to fulfill its charitable purpose.
Valley Rock Foundation (California)
California Following an investigation, the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) settled with Robert White and Celeste White, husband and wife directors of the
Valley Rock Foundation, a non-profit with a general charitable mission. The settlement requires the Whites to pay $150,000 to the CA DOJ for fees and costs, requires one of the Whites to resign, appoints an independent director, bans director compensation, prohibits personal use of the Foundation’s assets, and requires status reports to the CA DOJ as the Foundation winds up and dissolves. Pending dissolution, the Foundation will make grants for charitable purposes to various entities, ranging from $1 million to $4 million, including almost $1 million to a donor-advised fund restricted to the Foundation’s purposes.
NRA Foundation (DC)
DC In 2020, the DC Office of the Attorney General filed a complaint challenging the
NRA Foundation, Inc.’s transactions with the NRA, including transfers of its funds to the NRA in a series of loans, grants to the NRA that were made without legally required oversight, and inflated management fee payments. In April 2024, the parties entered into a consent order resolving the District’s claims. Under the agreement, the NRA Foundation must conduct annual compliance training for all new officers and directors, create an audit committee separate from the NRA’s, enter into a revised shared services agreement with the NRA that specifically sets forth the basis for the fee, create its own conflict of interest policy, require the NRA to submit written grant applications for Foundation funds, enter into written grant agreements with the NRA that ensure proper oversight of grants to the NRA to support its charitable programs, and create a policy governing future loans to the NRA of $250,000 and above. The consent order also requires the Foundation to provide the DCOAG with copies of all related new or revised policies and agreements through at least December 2026.
Raheem AI (DC)
DC The Office of the Attorney General of the District of Columbia (DC OAG) filed an enforcement action against
Raheem AI, a nonprofit focused on promoting accountability and transparency in policing, and its executive director. The complaint alleged Raheem AI’s executive director diverted over $75,000 of nonprofit funds for personal expenses including shopping sprees, frequent travel, and stays at luxury resorts, all while failing to pay Raheem AI’s District employee the wages she earned and subjecting her to an illegal noncompete agreement in violation of the District’s Nonprofit Corporation Act, Wage Payment and Collection Law, and Ban on Noncompete Agreements. The DC OAG secured a preliminary injunction freezing all bank and financial services accounts registered to Raheem AI, removing the executive director’s signature power and access to all accounts held in Raheem AI’s name, and preventing the executive director from continuing service in any capacity with respect to Raheem AI or any other District nonprofit corporation. This is the first ever contested board ban that the DC OAG has obtained.
Wheaton Historic Preservation Council (Illinois)
Illinois The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) continues to pursue a civil accounting action against
Wheaton Historic Preservation Council (WHPC) and three of its board members for violations of the Illinois Charitable Trust Act and the Illinois Solicitation for Charity Act. WHPC was founded in 1980 and operated a historical museum in the City of Wheaton, Illinois until at least 10 years ago when it entered into an agreement with the city to store its historical artifacts in a city storage facility that is not open to the public. WHPC subsequently sold its museum property and ceased active operations. WHPC also stopped filing required annual reports, resulting in cancellation of its registration. Questions arose as to (a) whether WHPC was properly protecting its historical artifacts, (b) whether WHPC had misused money, and (c) whether WHPC had improperly loaned money to a board member. WHPC and its board members did not cooperate in providing accounting documents and did not authorize access to the WHPC storage facility. The OAG later obtained WHPC bank records showing questionable distributions of $300,000 to a WP board member. In August 2023, the Court granted the OAG’s Partial Motion for Judgment, ruling that $192,000 of the monies that were paid out to a board member must be forfeited, and that the pleadings established that the Defendants are unfit to serve as charitable trustees and should be removed and replaced with new trustees or a receiver. In June 2024, the Court appointed a receiver to enforce the $192,000 judgment and collect and inventory the organization’s artifacts and assets.
Give Hope (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office settled with Minnesota food-related nonprofit
Give Hope and its founders, Brian and Sarah Ingram, due to multiple governance violations and confusion between the nonprofit and the Ingrams’ for-profit enterprises. The settlement alleges that the Ingrams entered into conflicted transactions with affiliated businesses without complying with the conflicted transaction requirements under the Minnesota Nonprofit Act. Further, it states that Give Hope’s Board of Directors met infrequently, failed to maintain adequate books and records or policies and procedures, did not designate a Treasurer, did not disclose the loss of its federal tax-exempt status and did not properly register with the Attorney General‘s office.
Rainbow Health (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General (AGO) successfully petitioned for the court-supervised dissolution of
Rainbow Health, an organization that offers mental health and substance abuse support for people who are LGBTQ+ and people living with HIV. The AGO initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Rainbow Health’s sudden collapse after it shut down abruptly without notice and without allegedly paying workers. In the petition, the AGO asked the court to direct the disposition of assets in an efficient way under the statutory framework in a manner that prioritized the worker payments. The supervision is ongoing.
Shamsia Hopes (Minnesota)
Minnesota Nonprofit corporation
Shamsia Hopes, which operated federal child nutrition programs, agreed to dissolve following governance failures that resulted in the misuse of the entity’s assets by its founder and president, Mekfira Hussein. An investigation by the Charities Division of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office found the corporation flouted governance requirements, enabling rampant misuse. Despite the requirement of Minnesota law that nonprofit corporations be managed by a board of directors, Ms. Hussein ran Shamsia Hopes largely by herself. This allowed Ms. Hussein to misuse the nonprofit’s assets on items like a $93,250 Porsche and her husband’s $173,438 mortgage. The investigation also found that Ms. Hussein had steered at least $5.4 million to a company that was created by her husband. The Charities Division investigated after the Husseins were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to improper acquisition and use of the child-nutrition funds.
Urban Advantage Services (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office reached a settlement via an Assurance of Discontinuance with Minneapolis skills building and employment resources nonprofit
Urban Advantage Services (UAS), requiring the organization to dissolve and transfer its assets to organizations with a similar charitable purpose. In the settlement, the AGO alleged that UAS failed to employ a treasurer, maintain a registered address, maintain adequate books and financial records, and abandoned its corporate purpose. Further, UAS’s board of directors failed to meet as often as required, file tax forms with the IRS, enforce the corporation’s bylaws, and familiarize themselves with their responsibilities as directors. Additionally, UAS failed to register with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office as a charitable trust. The Assurance did not preclude any claims against individuals, and it did not shield UAS’s officers or directors from any potential individual liability.
Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AGO) reached a settlement with
Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization (CMCEO) over allegations that the charity had permitted its top officers to pay themselves and their family members as independent contractors without board approval or proper safeguards and had failed to comply with governance and registration requirements under Minnesota charity law and its own governing documents. CMCEO entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance with the AGO, requiring the charity to cease paying its leaders and related parties as contractors, obtain board approval for officer and director compensation, and improve compliance with governance and registration requirements.
West African Family and Community Services (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AGO) settled via an Assurance of Discontinuance with Minneapolis nonprofit
West African Family and Community Services (WAFCS), and its Executive Director, Edmund Ocansey, requiring the nonprofit to strengthen its governance and requiring Ocansey to repay the organization $41,953.56 for the assets that he misused. In the settlement, the AGO alleged that WAFCS failed to operate under the supervision of its board and allowed Ocansey unsupervised access to funds, some of which he used for his personal benefit. This included personal purchases like fast food, retail purchases, car expenses, and monetary withdrawals. The AGO also alleged other violations, including that the organization failed to maintain adequate books and records, implement controls over the nonprofit’s finances, and make required regulatory filings with the state and federal government.
Lindell Charities (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AGO) prevailed in litigation, resulting in a court order compelling three Minnesota poverty and drug addiction-related charities run by MyPillow, Inc. CEO Michael Lindell,
The Lindell Foundation, Inc., the Lindell Recovery Network, and
Lindell Foundation Outreach (Lindell Charities), to produce financial information and other documentation in response to the State’s civil investigative demand (CID). The AGO alleged that the Lindell Charities spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on conflicted transactions with MyPillow and other for-profit entities run by board members without following required procedures, reported suspicious expenses and inaccurate information on their tax returns, ran afoul of registration requirements, and failed to provide complete responses to the Attorney General’s CID including by withholding all financial account information. After a hearing, Minnesota District Court Judge Leonardo Castro ordered that the Lindell Charities comply in full with the AGO’s CID.
Borealis Art Guild (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AGO) reached separate settlements with
Borealis Art Guild, which fosters the public’s and artists’ interest in art display by operating classes and programs, and its founders, George and Georgia Andria. The AGO secured an assurance removing the Andrias from the nonprofit’s board and bank accounts and prohibiting them from serving as an officer, director, employee, independent contractor, consultant, or representative of the organization. The AGO’s investigation found, among other problems, that Borealis assets had been spent to improve a building owned by the Andrias despite those improvements primarily benefiting the Andrias personally, that the nonprofit’s board failed to oversee the Andrias, that Borealis removed directors who asked questions about finances, and that Borealis had not complied with non-profit registration requirements.
Mayo Clinic (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office obtained a settlement in 2024 with
Mayo Clinic that requires Mayo Clinic to change its charity care and debt collection practices. The settlement resolved the Attorney General’s investigation, announced in December 2022 after allegations reported in the Rochester Post-Bulletin that Mayo had sued patients who may have qualified for charity care to collect medical debt. The Attorney General’s investigation found that, among other things, Mayo Clinic’s policies included barriers to patients’ access to charity care and Mayo Clinic engaged in aggressive debt-collection practices in contravention of the Minnesota Hospital Agreement and its charitable mission and values. As a result of the investigation and Mayo Clinic’s cooperation with it, the percentage of Mayo Clinic’s operating expenses provided to charity care in 2024 rose to the highest level in more than five years.
Honor the Earth (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General (AG) investigated
Honor the Earth, a charity supporting Native American and environmental causes, after the nonprofit incurred a $750,000 sexual harassment judgment that implicated the nonprofit’s governance. The investigation revealed former leadership’s dismissal of internal misconduct that exposed the organization to significant legal and financial liability, as well as additional governance issues including inadequate financial controls and recordkeeping and failure to comply with registration requirements. The charity had made significant compliance improvements, and in February 2024, the AG entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance with the organization, requiring it to continue compliance efforts including reinstating its registration.
Eagles Healing Nest (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General (AG) investigated
Eagles Healing Nest, a charity providing veterans and their families with housing and services, after reports that the founder was misusing funds. The investigation uncovered evidence that the founder was running the nonprofit without board supervision and was mismanaging the nonprofit’s finances, including using charitable assets for personal expenses. The charity had also failed to maintain its required registration. In March 2024, after the organization formed a new board and hired experienced nonprofit counsel to improve compliance, the AG and the charity and its founder entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance that required that the founder be terminated and that the organization continue its compliance efforts including reinstating its registration, and that mandated that the founder repay $10,000 to the nonprofit over three years.
Action for East African People (Minnesota)
Minnesota In March 2024, the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AG) filed an Assurance of Discontinuance requiring
Action for East African People (AFEAP) to separate from its founder, whom the AG found had diverted millions of dollars in charitable assets to herself and family members. The AG alleged that AFEAP violated charity laws by making payments of at least $450,000 to Ayan Abukar, its founder and executive director, or to companies she headed, and additional payments of at least $287,000 to one of Abukar’s daughters or companies she headed as well as at least $894,000 to other Abukar family members or companies they headed. In the Assurance, AFEAP agrees to enact governance reforms and remove Abukar and the daughter from its financial accounts. Separately, a federal indictment alleges that Abukar used AFEAP as a conduit to allegedly steal millions of dollars in federal child-nutrition funds. AFEAP operates a dental clinic that serves low-income patients and others in need, including those from Minnesota’s Somali community and other uninsured and underinsured immigrant communities.
All In Minnesota (Minnesota)
Minnesota The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office (AG) investigated
All In Minnesota, a youth soccer charity, after receiving complaints about the nonprofit’s governance. The investigation uncovered evidence that the board of directors failed to hold meetings, appoint a treasurer, or implement policies and procedures to protect the charity’s assets, resulting in conflicted transactions with the founder and entities tied to related parties. The charity also failed to register with the AG and abandoned the corporation in 2022 without following dissolution procedures. In August 2024, the AG entered into an Assurance of Discontinuance with the charity notifying the public of the organization’s governance violations and requiring the charity to dissolve.
Bearcamp for Sustainable Community (New Hampshire)
New Hampshire The New Hampshire Charitable Trust Unit (CTU) executed an Assurance of Discontinuance with the New Hampshire nonprofit charitable corporation
Bearcamp for Sustainable Community for alleged breaches of fiduciary duties. The Board’s conduct included voting to sell real estate below market value to former board members and in violation of the terms of a conservation easement. The Board also failed to pay wages in a timely manner to the Executive Director and voted to change its purpose, then used its existing assets for the new purpose without seeking court approval. As part of the Assurance, the charity was required to retain legal counsel to resolve real estate issues, repay loans from the Executive Director, pay compensation timely, and undergo Board training. The charity was also required to pay CTU’s cost of investigation and a voluntary payment of $10,000 in lieu of civil penalties.
NuDay (New Hampshire)
New Hampshire The New Hampshire Charitable Trust Unit (CTU) executed an Assurance of Discontinuance with the New Hampshire nonprofit corporation
NuDay, which provided humanitarian aid inside Syria and helped displaced Syrians in the areas bordering Syria. The president of NuDay, Nadia Alawa, pled guilty in federal court to three counts of failure to file export information in violation of federal law. CTU investigated NuDay regarding its annual reports and determined there were irregularities, including an excessive value assigned to in-kind donations (approximately $40 million), which allowed the charity to appear more successful than it was. In the course of CTU’s investigation, Alawa made false statements under oath regarding bank accounts controlled by NuDay. The Assurance required Alawa to pay CTU the cost of investigation as well as a $20,000 voluntary payment in lieu of civil penalties. Alawa is also prohibited from serving on any New Hampshire charitable organization for a period of 50 years.
National Rifle Association (New York)
New York Following an investigation that began in Spring 2019, the New York Attorney General’s Office (NY OAG) in August 2020 sued the
National Rifle Association of American and several of its officers and directors including Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice-President, Wilson Phillips, the former Chief Financial Officer and Board Treasurer, and John Frazer, the then General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, alleging various statutory violations of state law governing charities and their fiduciaries. The case proceeded to a jury trial in early 2024, the first time a New York jury addressed claims asserted under state charity law in a regulatory enforcement action. After a six-week trial, the jury found: (1) improper administration of a charity and its assets under N.Y. Estates, Powers & Trusts Law by the NRA; (2) violations of New York’s whistleblower provisions of the N.Y. Not-for-Profit Corporation Law (N-PCL) by the NRA, (3) violations of statutory fiduciary responsibilities under the N-PCL by the individual defendants, who were senior leaders of the NRA. The jury further determined there was cause to remove the chief executive officer and assessed damages of $7.4 million from breaches of fiduciary duty by LaPierre and Phillips. In addition, the jury found that the organization and its former general counsel had made false statements in regulatory filings in violation of N.Y. Executive Law.
The Court bifurcated the issue of non-monetary equitable remedies for a second, non-jury trial, which was held in July 2024. The Court barred Mr. LaPierre from returning to the NRA or any of its affiliates in any fiduciary role for 10 years. The Court declined to appoint an independent monitor over the NRA, citing remedial measures and governance changes at the NRA during the pendency of the litigation. These measures included changes in personnel at the executive level and establishing a Compliance function led by a new Chief Compliance Officer and Director of Internal Audit. The Court, however, found more changes at the NRA should be considered and directed the parties to make further submissions of proposed forms of relief to be ordered at a later time.
Before the second stage of the trial, the NY OAG reached a settlement with Phillips, the former CFO, who accepted a 10-year bar on serving as a nonprofit fiduciary in New York. The settlement left in place the $2 million damages and liability verdict against him by the jury. In addition, the NY OAG reached a settlement before trial with a fourth NRA executive, Joshua Powell, former senior strategist and chief of staff to LaPierre, who admitted wrongdoing, paid $100,000 in restitution to the NRA, and agreed to a lifetime bar on being a nonprofit fiduciary in New York.
Diocese of Brooklyn (New York)
New York In April 2024, the New York Attorney General’s Office (NY OAG) reached an agreement with the
Diocese of Brooklyn to resolve years of mismanagement of clergy sexual abuse cases by the Diocese and its failure to comply with the policies and procedures it had adopted for investigating and responding to abuse complaints. The agreement is reflected in an Assurance of Discontinuance that includes the NY OAG’s findings that the Diocese applied inconsistent standards to evaluate the credibility of an abuse allegation, delayed investigations, and failed to monitor priests who were found by the Diocese to have been credibly accused of sexual abuse. The agreement requires the Diocese to strengthen its existing policies and procedures for handling sexual abuse, including by mandating timelines for the review, independent investigation and determination process. It also requires the Diocese to implement measures to improve the availability of the complaint process and to put in place a whistleblower policy. The Diocese also agreed to changes and improvements to the personnel handling allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct, including appointing a director to oversee that function at the Diocese and adding a qualified person with law enforcement or counseling experience to be a Clergy Monitor. The Diocese further committed to making public disclosures when clergy are removed from active ministry due to a finding of credible allegations of abuse. The Diocese’s compliance with these and the other conditions in the Assurance will be reviewed by an independent secular monitor, who will be installed for a minimum of 3 years, and will issue annual reports, which will be published on the Diocese’s website.
Veterans of Foreign Wars of Ohio Charities (Ohio)
Ohio The Ohio Attorney General’s Charitable Law Section assisted in the Union County criminal prosecution of two
Veterans of Foreign Wars of Ohio Charities (OHVFW) officials who were criminally charged in connection with the loss of more than $35,000 that should have been used to help needy veterans. Todd Reveron, former executive director of the nonprofit OHVFW, was sentenced to three years of community control and a $1,000 fine. Guy Andonian, who had been the quartermaster of Post 4044, pleaded guilty to telecommunications fraud and was sentenced to five years of community control and ordered to pay restitution for the charitable funds that had been diverted through a check-writing scheme.
Impact with Hope Children’s Worldwide Hunger & Health Relief (Ohio)
Ohio Problems within the Wood County-based
Impact with Hope Children’s Worldwide Hunger & Health Relief led to inter-agency enforcement efforts. The Charitable Law Section (CLS) staff assisted the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in successfully prosecuting Linda Green, the organization’s founder and CEO, for making personal use of funds intended to support the organization’s mission. Green was sentenced to three years in prison with 18 months of mandatory post-release control, with a possibility of three years of post-release control. She was also ordered to make restitution of $300,000. CLS also examined breaches of fiduciary duties by the board members who failed to ensure that policies and procedures were in place that would have prevented Green from near total control of the charity’s books, records, finances, governance and operations. CLS received a consent judgment in an action targeting the members of the charity board. Under the judgment, all board members were directed to resign their positions. A receiver was appointed by the court to wrap up operations and sell any assets of the group, which will be directed by the Attorney General’s Office to other charitable entities.
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (Ohio)
Ohio The Ohio Attorney General’s Charitable Law Section (OH OAG) and multiple other governmental offices undertook a large investigation of leaders of the
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium following newspaper reports that executives were making personal use of resources. Criminal charges were filed against former CEO Tom Stalf, former CFO Greg Bell and three other directors and staffers. All were convicted and ordered to pay, collectively, over $2 million in restitution. All but one must serve time in prison. Investigators determined the defendants defrauded the zoo of at least $2.3 million. In response to the Section’s investigation into the zoo and its boards, the zoo implemented reforms and restructured its boards, and board members and executive staff completed training, including the OH OAG’s Charitable University program.
The Noble Foundation (Washington)
Washington In November 2024, the Washington Attorney General (AGO) resolved its lawsuit against
The Noble Foundation, its associated charities, and their directors and officers for violations of Washington’s Nonprofit Corporation Act. The foundation provided support to the BIPOC community in Southwest Washington. Through a stipulated judgment, the directors and officers admitted to the mismanagement and misappropriation of over $1 million dollars in charitable assets, and each agreed to pay $5,000 in cash and provide the AGO with the sales proceeds of an ill-gotten home and vehicle. The directors and officers further agreed to injunctions barring them from serving as charity fiduciaries for at least ten (10) years, a violation of which could result in the imposition of a $1 million suspended civil penalty. The court also entered default judgment against the charities and dissolved them. The AGO received $350,000 in settlement funds, $200,000 of which was distributed pursuant to
cy pres to a similar charity. The AGO will use the remaining $150,000 to fund charity education, outreach, and enforcement efforts.
Seattle Black Firefighters Association (Washington)
Washington In a case in which the Washington Attorney general filed an
amicus curiae brief,
Chappel v. Johnson, the Washington Court of Appeals addressed several ambiguities created under the state’s 2022 Nonprofit Corporation Act. First, the court confirmed that a nonprofit corporation’s purpose is defined by its articles of incorporation and bylaws and that courts interpret the documents using contract principles. Second, the court unequivocally stated that property held for charitable purposes must ultimately serve a charitable purpose. Third, the court agreed with the Attorney General’s position that a charitable corporation “may not change its purpose to a non-charitable one without taking specific and statutorily mandated steps intended to protect charitable assets from misuse.” The appeals court ultimately affirmed the lower court’s decision, however, which, in part, held that the organization in question,
the Seattle Black Firefighters Association, was not a charitable organization.
