The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that LA Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, a Democrat, is on ACORN, as we say, like gravy on rice.
ACORN embezzlement was $5 million, La. attorney general says
The organization, until recently headquartered in New Orleans, had tried to keep the details of an embezzlement quiet. The embezzler, Dale Rathke, was the one-time bookkeeper for the organization. His brother, Wade Rathke, was President of ACORN International at the time, and saw to it that the unpleasantness was handled when he and “a donor” repaid $1 million of Dale’s improper credit card charges.
Now, however, AG Caldwell is following up on an ACORN internal report that the embezzlement was closer to $5 million.
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell has been conducting an investigation of ACORN since June. He issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to former ACORN International President Wade Rathke and his brother Dale Rathke, who kept the group’s books. Those subpoenas were focused on possible ACORN violations for non-payment of employee withholding taxes, obstructing justice and violating the Employee Retirement Security Act. No charges have been made. …
“Current high-ranking members of ACORN have publicly acknowledged that embezzlement did in fact occur, but the exact amount of the embezzlement was unknown until it was recently acknowledged in a board of directors meeting on Oct. 17, 2008, by Bertha Lewis and Liz Wolf that an internal review had determined that the amount embezzled was $5 million, ” the new subpoena says.
The subpoena says, “It is still unclear if some of the monies embezzled are from state, federal or private funds.”
More money quotes from the subpoena:
ACORN was founded by Wade Rathke in 1970 and is the primary corporation which has 361 [!] related tax-exempt and non-tax exempt subsidiary entities.
Sounds like Buddy’s investigators have their work cut out for them. The documents they have requested are all the financial books, check registers, expense accounts, employee records, correspondence, emails, etc., etc., for a period encompassing several years.
A review of the records maintained by the Orleans Parish Recorder of Mortgages on August 3, 2009 revealed that 57 liens have been filed by the United States Treasury – Internal Revenue Service for the failure to properly pay withholding tax which was due. … Copies of the documents from sixteen of these liens which were filed between May 23, 2007 and September 9, 2008 were collected from the archives and the total amount of taxes due and not paid is $1,122,680.70.
Similarly, ACORN and related entities were deadbeats to the State of Louisiana to the tune of at least $306,000.
The AG’s investigation has drawn heavily on a July 2009 report to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform titled “Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?”
Heh.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
Thank God Foti's gone.
Third Street (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 12:18AM EST (link)I doubt we’d have been reading this.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” –Wilkins Micawber, “David Copperfield”
No
redtillimdead (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 12:22AM EST (link)We would not. I am very impressed with Caldwell. He is one of my favorite Democrats, and one who I could easily vote for.
Nancy Pelosi can kiss my asstroturf.
In fairness to Charlie F., though...
Third Street (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 4:10AM EST (link)…I’m sure that if he’d heard ACORN had any doctors on its staff, he’d have prosecuted the hell out of it.
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” –Wilkins Micawber, “David Copperfield”
I'll take RICO law for a $1,000 please
Deskpilot (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 12:22AM EST (link)DAILY DOUBLE – Get it right and you can take out ACORN and SEIU
Answer: As sure as white rice is white“
What is “Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?”
Ladies and Gentleman, our newest Attorney General. Proven smater than any community organizer.
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can still read it in English, You’re Welcome
Deskpilot, AM(H)1 (AW), USN (Ret)
Join the RedState Strike Force
so as nothing accidently gets fixed
hickorystick (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 1:47AM EST (link)Committee on Government Oversight and Reform has 24 Dems and 15 Republicans.
http://oversight.house.gov/about/members.asp
They have to wait for Tanya the bookkeeper to show up, before voting to cut off funds for Acorn. With Representatives like these who needs enemies
Here's the Oversight Committee's report.
Steve Maley (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 7:55AM EST (link)http://bit.ly/28OtIM
The blogger formerly known as ‘Vladimir’.
Every Republican AG in the Nation should be investigating ACORN.
Achance (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 4:18AM EST (link)What you can’t get through the heads of elected/appointed Republicans is that there is NOTHING they can do to get left wing interest groups and unions to like them! So you might as well get your money’s worth on the hate.
In Vino Veritas
My AG
redtillimdead (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 11:48AM EST (link)Is a Democrat, and he’s investigating ACORN
Nancy Pelosi can kiss my asstroturf.
Voice of essperience
dennism (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 9:37AM EST (link)Just want to say that these guys were pikers if they only got away with $5 million. And a $1.5 million deficiency in payroll taxes really ain’t all that much considering how many people wore out shoe leather to register Mickey Mouse and his ilk.
I will stake my reputation and all my treasure on this: at the middle of ACORN there’s a “paymaster” kind of company. I bet it does W2s and 1099s for all the affiliated entities – and I bet 361 doesn’t come close to the real number of these affiliates. And I also would be surprised if the “paymaster” or a company just like it didn’t own a “sweep” account where all the cash got sent before the ink was dry.
It is way too much trouble to keep separate checkbooks for 361+ entities. Especially if you’re a thief. Thieves are lazy.
I think that this “paymaster” company is called “CCI.” I don’t know where I came by that tidbit and anyway, the identity of this entity isn’t what I’m staking my reputation and treasure on.
I predict that the truth will forever be obfuscated. I can dream. But I bet that the essential truth is that most of the people that got compensation from ACORN and affiliates got paid as “contract labor” or “consultants” or some such phony baloney description. And on top of that I bet there’s a lot of social security taxes that didn’t get paid by the individual ACORN community organizers and activitsts.
CCI (Citizens Consulting Inc.) is the ACORN group...
Steve Maley (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 10:55AM EST (link)…that is all over the subpoena.
The blogger formerly known as ‘Vladimir’.
Yep, thre it is on p36
dennism (Diary) Tuesday, October 6th at 2:00PM EST (link)“According to testimony made before the House Judiciary Committee, all donations to ACORN or any of its approximately 361 affiliates are deposited into bank accounts held by CCI; thereafter, CCI transfers money into various affiliate accounts: Project Vote in 2007 had a $28 million dollar budget which was funded by CCI, an affiliate of ACORN. CCI is an acronym for Citizens Consulting Incorporated. Ms. Moncrief [sic] testified:
‘CCI is basically the accounting arm for all of the money, thepayments, who gets what, the – how the organization operates and flows and makes sure its bills are paid. All of that goesthrough CCI. . . . CCI makes disbursements to them either directly into their account or does transfers between I guess thedifferent organizations.’ All donations to ACORN or any of itsapproximately 175 affiliates are deposited into bank accounts held by CCI. Thereafter, CCI transfers money into variousaffiliates, one being Project Vote.’”