Wexler benefits handsomely from his association with the Center for Middle East Peace & Economic Cooperation.........which is setup as a "tax-exempt foundation."
REFERENCE News agencies reported that non-profit foundations and charities are abusing their tax-exempt status in several ways. Nonprofit trusts, charities and foundations have the potential and may, in fact, be major money laundering conduits. They wrap themselves in all sorts of high-sounding causes while engaging in activities that are fraudulent and benefit insiders at the expense of law-abiding Americans.
Legal fees, a line item in most N/P accounting reports, are well-used money laundering schemes that evade US taxes and use fraudulent accounting techniques to violate US banking and SEC laws. 501C's are used to run just about every kind of fraudulent accounting schemes, some observers say. N/P routinely pay exorbitant compensation to their officers and others
Form 990 is the main public disclosure documents for charities and foundations, that could be used for accounting fraud and tax evasion, and excessive compensation of specific individuals. Questionable compensation practices may evade IRS and banking and SEC laws. Insider transactions include (1) loans, the (2) sale, (3) exchange or (4) leasing of property to non-profit officers, and others, and reporting (5) "excess benefit transactions" and (6) executive pay.
The IRS has received complaints that 501C’s run just about every kind of off-the-books accounting fraud. Concerns have also been raised that the IRS has been stymied in its efforts to penalize falsified tax documents and official financial instruments to cover-up theft, and the failure of individuals to report stolen money as income (stolen money is taxable).
Foundations may involve collusion in multiple conspiracies to procure classified US documents with laundered or illegally-gotten monies, and may have been engaged in multiple conspiracies with donors to violate SEC, IRS, FEC, US banking laws, while colluding to commit other financial improprieties.
Authorities need to determine whether a Foundation is in collusion with donors, took part in multiple schemes to defraud, and whether laundered illegally-gotten donations were laundered, and whether donors who are officers of publicly-held companies manipulated publicly-reported earnings through a variety of devices designed to produce materially false and misleading financial results, and whether foundation donors fraudulently booked contributions as business expenses.
Authorities need to determine whether a Foundation colluded with its donors who are officers of publicly-held companies in schemes that may have included misusing corporate reserve accounts, concealing losses, inflating asset values and improperly accounting for transactions, as well as deferring profits into reserve accounts, improperly shifting capital funding to other projects to hide illegal payments, and whether a Foundation employed money laundering schemes to evade the IRS, SEC, FEC and US banking laws.
Classic money-laundering schemes work like this: a foundation might solicit a donor to write a check for say $150,000. The foundation would then deposit a percentage for itself, then illegally convert the remainder to another account----perhaps to a putative “consultant” account-----where the donor’s money would be fraudulently converted, then redeposited offshore, or in a foreign bank, where the donor would have access to the funds out of sight of IRS, SEC, and US banking laws.
In another conversion scheme, a tax-free foundation might solicit donors to write checks for $50,000, then deposit the check into a subsidiary bank account perhaps for “legal fees.” The bank would then illegally convert the monies and redeposit them into a campaign account designated by donors, out of sight of the FEC.
Authorities need to determine whether a tax-free Foundation and its donors violated state and federal RICO statutes by participating in (1) securities fraud, (2) US mail fraud, (3) electronic fraud, (4) computer trespass, (5) theft, (6) manipulated inventories, (7) created slush funds, (8) co-opted donors into criminal acts (9) failed to report wrongdoing, (10) breach of fiduciary duty, (11) received insider information, (12) accounting fraud, (13) improperly valued assets, (14) illegal conversions.
The BIGGEST frauds are one foundation writing a check to another foundation---they way these "altruists" launder and siphon off tax-free monies for themselves.
http://www.wpbf.com/politics/21293109/detail.html
U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler Releases Resignation Statement
POSTED: 10:35 am EDT October 14, 2009
“Today, I am announcing that I will be accepting the position of president of the Center for Middle East Peace and will leave Congress effective in January of 2010.
“More than anything, I want to thank the voters of Palm Beach and Broward counties who have allowed me the privilege of representing our community in the United States House of Representatives and the Florida Senate for the past 19 years. I have truly cherished the opportunity to serve my constituents — many of whom make up the generation that sacrificed in World War II and Korea and rebuilt our nation after the Great Depression.
“I have both admired and learned from my constituents, especially their love of country and commitment to community.
“I am proud that every day I have sought to advocate for and provide a voice to my constituents: whether it was fighting for a legitimate vote during the 2000 election, working toward enacting a voter verified paper trail in Florida, or advocating for health care, education, Social Security and countless other issues. Therefore, my decision to leave Congress did not come easy.
“Those who know me and those who have followed my career know that one of my overriding passions has been my work on the Foreign Affairs Committee, helping to strengthen and preserve the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel, and working toward a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians and between Israel and the Arab world. Additionally, I have made a special effort to improve congressional relations with key allies in the Muslim world by founding the Turkey and Indonesia caucuses. Moreover, it was an extraordinary honor to serve as a Middle East advisor to President Obama during the presidential campaign, and I treasure the experiences I had traveling the country, and especially throughout Florida, advocating for the president’s Middle East agenda.
“Taking over as president of the Center for Middle East Peace offers me an unparalleled opportunity to work on behalf of Middle East peace for an important and influential nonprofit institute. After much discussion with my family, I have decided that I cannot pass up on this opportunity.
“My one regret is that I will be unable to complete my current term in office, but I truly believe there is no time to waste. We are at a unique and critically tense moment in the history of the Middle East with both significant opportunities to succeed in the Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as major challenges involving Iran, Hamas and al Qaeda. In the coming months, Israeli and Arab leaders will be faced with monumental decisions that will dramatically affect the region and the entire world for decades to come. Critically important American security and foreign policy interests are also at stake. I am convinced that now is the time for me to engage on these issues on a full-time basis.”
“The BIGGEST frauds are one foundation writing a check to another foundation-—they way these “altruists” launder and siphon off tax-free monies for themselves.”
How about ACORN/SEIU writing checks back and forth?
You are on to something here Liz!!!