They donated to kids with cancer. A Vegas telemarketer cashed in.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I seem to recall a thread about this scam at DU maybe a month or two ago. I'll look for it.

It was InfoCision. I found something from 2012, but I think we had a thread much more recently than that. I'll add the story in a reply.

David Fahrenthold Retweeted

Pretty amazing feat of investigative journalism: "They donated to kids with cancer. A Vegas telemarketer cashed in": A look inside Richard Zeitlin's machine, which turns charitable and political contributions into paydays. https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2019/09/12/they-donated-to-kids-with-cancer-a-vegas-telemarketer-cashed-in/ …

Link to tweet

SPECIAL REPORTS
INVESTIGATIONS
They donated to kids with cancer. A Vegas telemarketer cashed in.
A look inside his machine, which turns charitable and political contributions into paydays.

By Center for Public Integrity
Published Yesterday
Updated Yesterday

Sarah Kleiner and Chris Zubak-Skees reported this for the Center for Public Integrity

TAMPA, Fla. — The telemarketer asked Eric Thomas a question: Would he consider donating money to the Children’s Leukemia Support Network? ... Thomas himself was battling a rare and incurable form of leukemia. His wife, Rhonda, had endured two bouts with breast cancer. The Florida retirees had medical bills, but they were manageable, thanks to Thomas’ insurance as an Army veteran. ... So Thomas told the telemarketer he’d help. He sent $100 on Oct. 1, 2018.

But virtually none of his money helped children with leukemia or their parents, who often face crippling medical expenses and crushing anxiety. .. About $84 of Thomas’ contribution landed with a network of companies run by a Las Vegas-based businessman, Richard Zeitlin. ... The remainder? Almost all of it funded Children’s Leukemia Support Network salaries, bank fees, payroll taxes and other overhead expenses. ... “I feel cheated,” Thomas said in a recent interview at a cancer treatment center in Tampa. “Misused.”

Thomas is one of thousands of Americans who’ve opened their wallets to groups that sound like charities but actually are political action committees. The groups raise money in the name of leukemia-stricken children, breast cancer survivors, police officers, firefighters and struggling military veterans, among others. Little if any of the money donors provide goes toward the causes being championed.

This is part of a trend. During the last four years, the U.S. saw a significant spike in the number of PACs that raise most of their money from small-dollar donors before plowing much of it back into salaries, administrative costs and raising more cash, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of more than 68.7 million campaign finance records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
....

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. DU, 2012: Deceptive Telemarketing Firm Has Republican Ties. Well, Duh.

Deceptive Telemarketing Firm Has Republican Ties. Well, Duh.

This article in Sunday's Washington Post business section is a shortened version of the original, which ran in Bloomberg Markets magazine.

Charities Deceive Donors Unaware Money Goes to a Telemarketer

There are so many money quotes in the article that it's hard for me to limit myself to four paragraphs. In a nutshell, the calls that you think are coming to your house from charities are coming from a company that profits quite handsomely from its telemarketing work, InfoCision Management. You will be shocked (or not), to hear that it works for Citizens United and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Further, its reports to the IRS are not required to show just how big a cut it receives for its telemarketing. You have to see the state financial reports for that.

When I can, I'll be pointing this out to my newly elected state delegate, who I am sure saw the article. Since I suspect that Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli is benefiting from this operation, the AG's office will do nothing in response.

The article is excellent and quite revealing. "There are things you know, things you don't know, and things you don't know you don't know."

Charitable donations benefit telemarketers

By David Evans, Published: September 15
The Washington Post

....
The company has a political operation as well. It did fundraising for Citizens United, the conservative group that was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that allowed unlimited independent spending by corporations and unions on behalf of political candidates. From 2009 to 2011, InfoCision raised $14.7 million for Citizens United and kept $12.4 million, or 84 percent, of the money it raised, according to InfoCision filings with North Carolina.

InfoCision has also worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which paid InfoCision more than $115 million to raise money from 2003 to 2012, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The filings don’t say how much InfoCision raised.
....

Taylor was an outspoken opponent of efforts by the Federal Trade Commission in 2003 to begin the National Do Not Call Registry, allowing people to block calls from for-profit solicitors. In an interview with Customer Interaction Solutions, a trade journal, he said: “The most pressing issue, without a doubt, is excessive governmental regulation. It seems that the politicians and regulators are ignoring the significant benefits we provide through job creation, economic growth and the goods and services we cost-effectively market for our clients.”
....

What charities report

An examination of hundreds of filings that nonprofits are required to submit to the IRS shows how charities can bury, and sometimes omit, expenditures on telemarketing.

In state filings, by contrast, charities and telemarketers are required to explicitly say how much is raised by the contractors and who gets the money. Those numbers can be more telling than the IRS filings.
....

This comment echoes my sentiments:

barnesgene wrote:
9/16/2012 12:24 PM EDT
The charities justify this practice by saying they get great leads for future fund-raising from telemarketing companies, but they MISS THE POINT: I just gave $20 to a charity, and $15.60 of it just went to a money-grubbing capitalist profit-making machine! I have sent the Washington Post article off to all my friends, and I think everyone else should too. Meanwhile, two things should happen:

(1) At long last, the National Do-Not-Call List should be expanded to include ANY contracted out fund-raiser (telemarketer). If charities can't do their own calling, their unholy alliance with telemarketers should be subject to all cold-call restrictions for those listed on the Do-Not-Call Registry.

(2) State Attorneys-General should look into the blatant lying going on with these phone calls, and should re-examine charities' disclosure/tax forms for deceitful and dishonest entries.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. DU, 2019: How operatives used conspiracy theories to recruit CPAC donors, then created their own PAC

How operatives used conspiracy theories to recruit CPAC donors, then created their own PAC to reap m

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Autumn (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum). If you believe this was done in error, please contact Autumn to appeal.

Source: Politico

'This makes me a little queasy ... which is good.'

How operatives used conspiracy theories to recruit CPAC donors, then created their own PAC to reap millions for themselves.

By MAGGIE SEVERNS and DEREK WILLIS 07/26/2019 05:04 AM EDT

After recruiting thousands of donors for the American Conservative Union -- the powerful organization behind the annual CPAC conference -- a Republican political operative pushed the same contributors to give millions to a PAC that promised to go after then-President Barack Obama, but then steered much of their donations to himself and his partners.

The PAC, called the Conservative Majority Fund, has raised nearly $10 million since mid-2012 and continues to solicit funds to this day, primarily from thousands of steadfast contributors to conservative causes, many of them senior citizens. But it has made just $48,400 in political contributions to candidates and committees. Public records indicate its main beneficiaries are the operative Kelley Rogers, who has a history of disputes over allegedly unethical fundraising, and one of the largest conservative fundraising companies, InfoCision Management Corp., which charged millions of dollars in fundraising fees.

The saga of how politically connected fundraisers used one of the nation's leading conservative organizations as a springboard for fundraising that mainly benefited the fundraisers themselves sheds light on the growing problem of so-called scam PACs -- organizations that take advantage of loosened campaign finance laws to reap windfalls for insiders while directing only a small portion of receipts to actual political advocacy.

Watchdogs have long complained that ethics laws fail to prevent the exploitation of donors by organizations operating with little or no oversight, and even President Donald Trump's campaign issued a warning this year about "dishonest fundraising groups" using the president's name to raise funds.

Rogers' and InfoCision's work on behalf of the ACU also shows how lax regulation allows big-name political organizations to recruit donors without identifying either the source of the calls or the ultimate beneficiaries of the donations. ACU appears to have had little control over the PAC's operation and was not the source of its fundraising scripts.
....

Both Rogers' Annapolis, Md.-based Strategic Campaign Group and the Akron, Ohio-based InfoCision, a direct marketing firm, were once staples of GOP fundraising. Rogers' clients included Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran and national security adviser John Bolton, while InfoCision helped raise money for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Rifle Association.
....

We’re still reporting on the booming scam PAC business. Do you think one has been asking you for money? Tell our reporter Maggie Severns at [e-mail] or via Signal at 612-669-8689.

This story was co-published with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. (1) Sign up to get their biggest stories in your inbox. (2)

(1) https://www.propublica.org/article/conservative-majority-fund-political-fundraising-pac-kelley-rogers

(2) https://go.propublica.org/20190416

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/26/conservative-majority-fund-political-fundraising-pac-kelley-rogers-1428260

-- -- -- -- --

Huge hat tip to Joe.My.God:

Politico: Millions Were Scammed From CPAC Donors
July 26, 2019

https://www.joemygod.com/2019/07/politico-millions-were-scammed-from-cpac-donors/

-- -- -- -- --

InfoCision Management Corporation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigationJump to se

InfoCision Management Corporation

InfoCision Management Corporation is a company that operates call centers. Based in Bath Township, Ohio outside of Akron, it is the second-largest teleservice company in the United States. It operates 30 call centers at 12 locations in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, employing more than 4,000 people. The company "specializes in political, Christian and nonprofit fundraising, and sales and customer care."
....

Controversy

InfoCision telefundraisers often request that people volunteer to mail fifteen preprinted solicitation letters to their friends and family. The volunteers are asked to use their own postage, and the funds are sent to InfoCision, earmarked for reputable charities such as the March of Dimes and the American Cancer Society. [9]

Bloomberg alleged that InfoCision sometimes takes as much as 100% of the proceeds raised for nonprofits and that givers are often unaware of the percentage of their money that goes to the telemarketing firm. Furthermore, the report alleged that the script given to the telemarketers to read to prospective donors contains factual lies about how much money will go to the charity. [10] InfoCision responded with its own four-point statement: (1) the company much be on the right track if charities continue returning to them; (2) acquiring new donors and reengaging lapsed donors can be costly; (3) charities' future fundraising efforts will benefit from donors that the company brought into the system; and (4) the system was comparable to marketing techniques such as loss leaders that are common in the commercial world.
....

National Rifle Association

The National Rifle Association paid InfoCision more than $80,000,000 for solicitation of donations and membership processing services for the period 2012 through 2015, according to the NRA's publicly available IRS Form 990 filings.
....

[9] Washington Post "Charitable donations benefit telemarketers". Retrieved June 3, 2015.

[10] Evans, David, "Charities Deceive Donors Unaware Money Goes to a Telemarketer", Bloomberg Markets, September 12, 2012. Retrieved 2012-09-12.

Gee, I get a lot of those calls. I had no idea what was going on. Isn't that interesting?

[Vogon_Glory]

3. I am very suspicious of telemarketer calls

If I haven’t heard good things about their outfit, I don’t give.

[dalton99a]

4. A must read.

Richard Zeitlin, right, and his brother, Alan Zeitlin, smoke cigars at the Aria in Las Vegas. Richard Zeitlin moved to Las Vegas from Milwaukee to start a telemarketing company in the 1990s. (Screenshot via Facebook)