Yikes! – charities must wonder. We might have to pay back donated money we’ve already spent?!?
A while back, we posted about Tom Petters, convicted Ponzi schemer, who had been a big donor to charities in and beyond Minnesota. At that time, Miami University (Ohio) was giving back $5-million that Petters had donated. Read the post/story.
According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, the court-appointed receiver sorting out the Petters mess is seeking the return of Petters’ donations to almost 100 charities. Disgorging the Petters donation would be a major disaster for at least one of them, a drug treatment center in Minneapolis. Read the Minneapolis – St. Paul StarTribune story.
Charities don’t typically have the law enforcement’s ability to investigate donors. And it took quite a while for law enforcement to catch up with this bad-guy donor. What’s a charity to do?
Charities in Sarasota are going through the same thing. Local ponzi scheme bilked many investors of millions of dollars. They hired an attorney. Some are being sued by the receiver in bankruptcy.