Secrecy and misuse of charitable funds cloud formerly proud law enforcement training charity; whistleblower director wonders where money is going?
FREDERICK, MD (PRWEB) June 23, 2004 -- Secrecy and misuse of charitable funds cloud what once was the nation's largest non-profit law-enforcement training organization, placing at risk all of our nations local, state and federal law enforcement officers, and thereby our communities, according to an elected corporate director of the charity.
Phil Messina, a highly decorated, retired, NYC Police Sergeant, has revealed that a fellow corporate director has recently admitted that over $250,000 of charitable funds has been spent on "legal fees". According to Messina, most of these funds appear to have been utilized to defend the withholding of corporate financial and internal records from the review by Messina and auditors working alongside him, and on efforts attempting to remove him from the Board and from the charity so as to impede his efforts to get to the truth.
Responding to charges leveled at him and the majority of ASLET's directors (in a 75 page racketeering suit filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York) Tim Dees, a former Nevada police officer and current police training administrator in the State of Oregon, admitted that the charitys funds had been depleted fighting Messinas efforts.
Mr. Messina calls the transfer of charitable dollars out of the public domain and into the hands of attorneys defending the entrenched staff and directors "a disgraceful transfer of charitable assets to benefit insiders under attack."
Messina said: "We hope the upcoming Senate Hearings serve as a wake-up call for our public officials."
"In the case of ASLET, a large percentage of the funds accumulated over the years, designed for charitable purposes, have been recently flowing into the hands of attorneys hired to defend the unconscionable withholding or destroying of records from an elected director and members of the charitable corporation."
Messina said law enforcement and the civilian public have reaped numerous benefits through the years as ASLET fulfilled its special charitable missions. "ASLET was once invaluable to the nations law enforcement and the greater community," he said. Unfortunately, those days are long gone, as the charitable funds disappear with no explanations, even to Directors who seek to uncover where the money is going.
Is it unethical for a corporate executive who is withholding records (to hide the atrocious state of the charity's finances and record keeping) to use charitable funds to defend his actions? Messina thinks so. "These assets should be preserved for charitable purposes in the communities that need them."
Some of the whistleblower Director's concerns include:
* The charity's Board did not vote to have a full fraud audit by an independent auditor, despite the written recommendations of two Certified Public Accountants and a professional auditor and former member.
* There is no record of any board meeting in which the board voted to allocate the organization's funds to pay the legal costs of defendants in a pending civil racketeering suit, and yet they will not divulge who is paying those costs, even while evidence indicates that either the Executive Director (Frank Hackett) or the former and/or current Treasurers have approved the use of charitable funds to pay their own legal bills. Corporate Secretary Tim Dees will only confirm that he has not been asked to write any checks.
* Because financial transactions are being hidden from both the members and the only two directors who are not defendants, possible excessive benefits to management are being hidden during a time when even defendant board members admit the organization is in danger of going bankrupt due to excessive and yet unexplained legal bills, combined with questionably high overhead and a mass exodus of members, corporate sponsors, advertisers and contributors since Frank Hackett took over the administrative reins of ASLET (under the financial watch of former treasurer Greg Meyer and current Treasurer Dave Smith).
"Without access to information, members of the public, attorneys' general and federal regulators and/or prosecutors are not able to intervene effectively to protect valuable charitable resources," Messina stated.
Also, without access to transaction documents, Messina and the auditors aiding him were unable to evaluate whether personal reimbursements are being approved by anyone other than those parties that are submitting them. Furthermore, because of conflicting, missing and/or withheld reports, the auditors were unable to verify how much money is being spent for "personal expenses" or why ASLET appears to be contracting business out to other businesses without competitive bidding and paying fees which appear to be many times what the service is worth (example: $45,000 for annual website services).
Normally, charitable organizations recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are created to benefit the public, and not those running the charity.
As the Senate Finance Committee holds hearings on the misuse of funds to support those running charitable organizations, Messina notes that such behaviors may also be violating state common law requirements that charitable dollars remain dedicated to causes as near to their original purpose as possible.
Among Messinas recommendations:
1. A full fraud audit conducted by an independent auditor to cover fiscal years 2002, 2003 and 2004.
2. Full financial disclosure and transparency to any member or potential contributor.
3. An Audit Committee to consisting of non-directors, and chaired by a person with an accounting background.
4. An immediate accounting of all legal bills paid since November of 2002, and full disclosure of when the use of charitable funds was authorized to pay those bills and by whom.
Please contact Elizabeth Kennedy for more information at: (631) 226-8383
Or email: info@modernwarrior.com
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