http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1036195.php
Sunday,
March 12, 2006
All
glitter, little good
Telemarketing
machine pulls in millions while its inventor does time in prison.
The
Orange County Register
Charity
was sweet for Mitch Gold.
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Mitch
Gold
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Before
prosecutors finally caught up with the king of Orange County
telemarketing, the 5-foot-11-inch, 264-pound Gold ate several times a week
at Ruth's Chris Steak House, drove a Jaguar (license plate "Sir
Gold") and kept a Ferrari Testarossa in the garage of his hilltop San
Juan Capistrano home.
Donations,
$25 or $35 at a time, harvested from hundreds of thousands of people,
helped pay for it all.
Charity
regulators around the country cheered in July 2002 when a federal judge
sentenced Gold to eight years in prison for fraud.
Before
his sentencing, Virginia regulator Jo Freeman gave the judge a list of
Gold's charities and solicitors. Her list filled eight single-spaced
pages.
Handing
Gold a long sentence, Freeman wrote, "will be sending a strong
message to the rest of his network."
She
was wrong.
----------------------------
Copyright
2005 The Orange County Register
RELATED
LINKS:
Chronology:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031486.php
Group's
promises mostly unmet: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1036202.php
Pupil
surpassed his mentor: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1038449.php
'88
Ruling ruling
shields charity solicitors from regulators:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1038448.php
U.S.
Supreme Court rulings on charity: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031482.php
Inside
a boiler room: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031490.php
Checking
up on charities: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031484.php
Charities
defend laws governing telemarketing:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031483.php
Charts
explaining fundraising and management costs: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sections/news/investigations/2006/deception/graphic1.php
Details
on various charities: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sections/news/investigations/2006/deception/graphic2.php
Sound-alike
charities: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031487.php
Sunday,
March 12, 2006
Sound-alike
charities
When
they hear the words "American veterans," many people reach for
their checkbooks. That helps explain why Mitch Gold and several associates
created charities whose names started with that magic phrase. Here are
some examples:
American
Veterans Assistance Council: A
Gold client from mid-1988 through the early '90s, it was formed by Gold's
business partner and headed by Gold's brother-in-law.
American
Veterans Assistance Foundation: A
business name for Emmanuel Outreach Ministries, created in 2000 when Adam
Cohen, a Gold subcontractor and older brother of Gold's top protégé,
J.P. Cohen, started telemarketing for the Fullerton ministry.
American
Veterans Coalition: Originally
a business name for the Abundant Life Foundation, a Gold client starting
in 1999; incorporated 2002 in Washington state. Headed by Gig Harbor,
Wash., charity entrepreneur Robert M. Friend Jr.
American
Veterans Council: A
business name beginning in 1999 for Timothy Lyons' Costa Mesa fundraising
business. Controlled by Gabriel Sanchez. Sanchez was a former Gold client,
and Lyons was a onetime Gold subcontractor. Both men are serving 15-year
prison sentences for fraud.
American
Veterans Help Fund: A
business name for Gabriel Sanchez's First Church of Life in Huntington
Beach, formed in 1994. Sanchez also controlled the U.S. Veterans League.
American
Veterans Network: A
business name since 1994 for Shiloh International Ministries in La Verne,
a longtime Gold client.
American
Veterans Relief Foundation:
Incorporated in 2001 in Santa Ana by Michael Kowalsky, a former Gold
client. Managed until mid-2005 by onetime Gold aide and ex-felon Joe
Shambaugh.
American
Veterans Relief Fund: A
Gold client in the late 1990s. Headed by Dallas resident Marvin Cherna,
who was later convicted of mail fraud for looting the charity.
American
War Veterans: A
business name of Regular American Veterans, a Gold client in the late
1990s.
Sources:
Internal Revenue Service, Federal Trade Commission v. Gold, U.S. v. Gold,
The Register
BOILER
ROOM:
A
police detective describes what he saw during a raid on a Mitch Gold
boiler room.
SCRIPT:
Telemarketers
typically read from a script like this one for Shiloh International
Ministries.
GOLD'S
FRIENDS:
A
Virginia regulator listed dozens of Mitch Gold’s associates.
NO
THANKS:
A
charity refused to take money from the Association for Disabled
Firefighters.
STERN
WORDS:
Judge David O. Carter denounced Mitch Gold’s tactics when he
sentenced him to prison.
PLEA
FOR MERCY:
Before
the sentencing, Gold’s family tried to stir sympathy with this unsigned
letter.
CHARITY
MANAGER:
Joe
Shambaugh signed incorporation papers for his charity management business,
SR-1 Financial Services. Shambaugh, who once worked for Mitch Gold, raised
millions for charity after Gold left the business. Charities got barely a
penny of each dollar Shambaugh raised.
INTERACTIVE:
A TANGELED WEB:
Connections
of nearly 80 fundraisers and charities to the king of telemarketing fraud.
[Bob's comment -- this is an
interesting example of how softward can be used to show linkages between
individuals involved in a criminal enterprise.]
http://www.ocregister.com/multimedia/gold/
MAP:
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS:
Actions
taken in specific states.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sections/news/investigations/2006/deception/usmap.php
'RELOADING'
ONLINE:
Compare
two charities' Web sites and some of their similarities.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sections/news/investigations/2006/deception/websites.php
PROFILES:
Federal
prosecutor Ellyn Lindsay:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031488.php
U.S.
District Court Judge David O. Carter:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_1031489.php