Wrong again, Charlie (Tax-cheat Rangel helped an uptown nonprofit get a $2.6 million grant)

NY Post ^ | 9/18/10

[Libloather]

Wrong again, Charlie
Last Updated: 4:09 AM, September 18, 2010

Last month, embattled Rep. Charles Rangel ripped into The Post for an article detailing how he'd helped an uptown nonprofit get a $2.6 million grant despite serious questions about his finances.

"For The Post to try for political reasons to attack this organization," said Rangel, "once again they're picking on a giant without any facts at all."

Well, the city Department of Investigation has just concluded its investigation of Alianza Dominicana, the politically wired group that has been a funding favorite of the Rangel-linked Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone.

And guess what? Turns out The Post's Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein were right on target.

The DOI found that Alianza -- which has received $66 million in city funding -- was a fiscal train wreck between 2005 and 2009. So much so, it couldn't even meet its payrolls or pay expenses.

**SNIP**

For another, one of Alianza's key donors is veteran labor lawyer Theodore Kheel, who provided Rangel with an interest-free loan on his Dominican villa which he never disclosed -- the basis of one of the 13 ethics charges now pending against him before Cingress.

[Libloather]

...the city Department of Investigation has just concluded its investigation...

Just in time for the primary elections.

[GeronL]

They give money away to all their friends, they just don’t get called on it very often

[Liz]

Rangel's multiple ties with tax-exempt foundations smell to high heaven. The IRS says the biggest potential for IRS fraud are tax-exempt non-profits doing deals with other tax-exempt non-profits----all posing as do-gooder "foundations" and “charities.”

Rangel’s pricey offshore real estate deals are entwined with his financial connections to several tax-exempt entities. There are at least four tax-exempt entities connected to Rangel‘s finances:

(1) The Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service got $2 million from Congressional allocations, plus another $700,000 from the Dept of HUD,

(2) The NY Carib News Foundation (organized financing for Rangel’s island-hopping luxe Caribbean trips),

(3) The Ann S. Kheel Charitable Trust---supposedly aids "disadvantaged neighborhoods" gave $440,000 to The Charles B. Rangel Center (the largest single donation in the charity's 4-year history). Theodore Kheel, Esq, VP of Grupo Punta Cana Operating Company, (mortgage holder on Rangel’s luxury villa), donated $17,000 to Rangel's congressional campaigns and $52,000 to a Rangel-run political action committee since 1990, federal filings show. (Ann Kheel is his late wife).

(4) The NY-based "tax-exempt Carib News Foundation" subsidized Rangel’s trips to luxury island resorts---perfect places to hide money from the taxman.

EXCERPT FROM 5-PAGE REPORT........members of the Congressional Black Caucus attended the 13th annual Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference in sun-drenched St. Maarten......enjoying free airfare, meals and hotel rooms paid for by IBM, AT&T, Verizon, Citigroup, Pfizer, Macy's and American Airlines..... Citigroup that last week received a massive bailout, ponied up $100,000 according to one lobbyist....and has supported the conference for several years, but would not reveal an amount.

The yearly event - held in a Caribbean country - draws black politicians, as well as community activists, lobbyists and special-interest groups looking to promote agendas.....the main goal is "promoting business relationships between America's largest firms and the Caribbean's most successful enterprises."

American Airlines sent its contribution directly to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which is not listed as a sponsor of the St. Maarten event.

"The Carib News Foundation is the sole sponsor for the trip....corporations are contributors to the Foundation. Carib News Foundation pays for more than half of the symposium."

Sponsor Karl Rodney, Carib News CEO, said the Carib News Foundation is a charity and allowed to sponsor trips for elected officials. Carib News also publishes a newspaper covering the Carib community in New York. But IRS spokesman Kevin McKeon said Carib News is not listed as a charty. There are no publicly available tax filings for the group, and it is not listed with the NY AG as required by NY state.

Sonesta resort at St. Maarten

In its filings to the Ethics Committee for the luxury St. Maarten trip, the tax-exempt Carib News did not disclose corporate sponsorships paying for the conference. Mr Rodney, the Carib News CEO, filed a "Private Sponsor Travel Certification Form" in October, checking the box that says, "I represent that the trip sponsor(s) has not accepted from any other source funds earmarked directly or indirectly to finance any aspect of the trip."

============================================== REFERENCE The published list of known money-laundering havens includes Panama, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, the Cook Islands, Dominica, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Panama, the Philippines, St. Kitts, Israel, and the Grenadines. Suspected tax havens include Cyprus, Gibraltar, Monaco, and Antigua.

[Liz]

[goodnesswins]

"The IRS says the biggest potential for IRS fraud are tax-exempt non-profits doing deals with other tax-exempt non-profits----all posing as do-gooder "foundations" and “charities.”

HAHAHAHA.....if the IRS was worried...they'd have gone after all the DEMOCRAT non-profits YEARS ago....

[ResponseAbility]

High taxes have another benefit to money grubbing politicians. They can selectively relieve cronies from the highest rates through deals like this. High taxation by the dems is even more insidious when things like this are taken into account.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Libloather.

...the city Department of Investigation has just concluded its investigation of Alianza Dominicana, the politically wired group that has been a funding favorite of the Rangel-linked Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. And guess what? Turns out The Post's Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein were right on target.