Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20120707 : vimarsan

CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 July 7, 2012



war zones, not one dime. because of drew's reporting, the senate finance committee is demanding answers from the dvnf. more on that tonight. drew also uncovered yet another veterans charity called the national veterans foundation, which is taking donations, but using only a very small percentage to actually help vets. there are also charities that claim to help abandoned animals but the money trail leads somewhere else. baghdad pups, as far as we can tell, they don't do that at all. the montreal spca, canadian charity that helps abandoned cats and dogged received $13 million in donations over three years, but they ended up in the hole more than $4.5 million. now, all of these charities have one thing in common. they all have connections to a fund-raising company called quadriga art. they get paid to build mailing lists for the charity groups and that's where the money trail took drew. following the trail was one thing, getting answers was another. >> hi, how are you? >> we're not going to be doing anything on camera. >> so the bottom line is you're not going to give me an interview? where is the money going? i'm trying to reach mr. shoeloff. oh, he's not in. so here is the question raised over three years and none of the money has gone to any veterans, ma'am? >> you think if the money was going where they said it was going, everything was on the up and up, you would think they would want to be completely transparent, right? drew has been investigating this for years in some cases and they're refusing to answer, literally getting doors slammed in his face. you'll see what he and his producer uncovered during their continuing investigation. later on, we'll tell you what you need to look for in order to make sure that a charity that you want to donate money to, to make sure they're doing the right thing with your donations. we begin with the veterans charity that has a lot of explaining to do. a lot of americans feel duped after learning the money they donated in the name of helping disabled veterans never made it to those in need. here is drew's report. >> reporter: mary alice, a retired english professor, is charitable, especially to groups supporting disabled veterans. it didn't surprise her when she opened her mailbox one day and found this. with your husband's name on it. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: in the fund-raising industry, they're called guilt packages. and when this one arrived, a big calculator, and a calendar book with her husband's name on them, mary alice felt the guilty tug to make that donation. >> and see, it is sort of disabled american veterans, how many people are going to look at it and think they are the same organization. >> reporter: and they're not. >> no. >> reporter: in fact, the gifts were not from the well known and respected disabled american veterans, but from a newer much smaller charity, the disabled veterans national foundation. something didn't smell right, so this retired english teacher did some research and found that the dvnf gets an f from a charity watchdog group, according to its tax filings, raising nearly 56million in donations, for veterans in the past three years, but according to the records cnn found, none of that $56 million has gone to direct services for veterans. >> making lots of money off of it. i mean, you're talking millions of dollars that people are doing by grabbing money from people who don't have it. >> reporter: who believe out of the goodness of their own heart that they are giving money to -- >> a worthy cause. >> reporter: the purpose is to try to explain to me why these numbers don't add up. cnn has been trying to reach the disabled veterans national foundation off and on for nearly two years. public relations man did return our phone call, outside the group's washington, d.c. headquarters in 2010. but the manager refused to talk. despite e-mails and more phone calls, our repeated requests for interviews were all denied. >> up to $2 billion is raised in the name of veterans in this country and it is so sad that a great deal of us waste hundreds of millions of dollars of our charitable dollars intended to help veterans is being squandered and wasted by opportunists and individuals and companies that seek -- see it as a profit-making opportunity. >> reporter: daniel borochoff runs a charity watchdog group out of this office in chicago. he grades charities on just how much good and bad they do with your donations. veterans and military charities are some of the worst, he says. and that includes the disabled veterans national foundation, which he gives an f. because hardly any of the donations make it to the people the group is fund-raising for. so back to that $56 million the group has raised. if it hasn't gone to direct contributions to veterans, where exactly did it go? >> as far as we can tell, up to the tenth floor of this manhattan office building to a company called quadriga arts, a company that specializes in fund-raising. and as far as we know, they know a lot about fund-raising for itself. it is a private company which according to its website raises money for more than 500 charities and nonprofits worldwide. in an e-mail to cnn, a company spokesman says, it, quote, does not discuss specific client relationships. but that spokesman did say quadriga at times chooses to invest money in partnerships with nonprofit organizations. to date, quadriga told cnn it is actually lost $7 million investing in veteran nonprofit organizations. that may be true, but in the case of the disabled veterans national foundation, according to tax documents, not only did all the nearly $56 million in cash donations go to fund-raising costs, but the dvnf still owes its fund-raiser another $5 million. it sounds like backward math. dvnf is reporting on its tax returns that it is costing more than a dollar to raise a dollar, despite the fact that its fund-raising contractor quadriga says it wins its fair share of business because it is a low cost provider in the nonprofit marketplace. >> it is like printing money. they just -- they print the solicitations, they send them out to millions of people. they don't care -- they don't care about the -- the percentage return. all they care about is how much money they get from it. >> you're the one from cnn. >> reporter: meet precilla wilkewitz. president we found her at a small vfw office in baton rouge, louisiana. >> this is a veterans of foreign wars and i didn't think you would do something like this. and we have agreed to talk to you, answer any -- >> reporter: nobody agreed. so here is the question, raised over three years and none of the money has gone to any veterans, ma'am? while she is the former national legislative liaison for the veterans of foreign wars, it is another veterans group she's president of that we wanted to discuss. okay, so the bottom line is you're not going to give me an interview. cnn has been trying for two years to get an interview with the disabled veterans national foundation, since we began tracking its fund-raising. we have gotten angry phone calls, angry e-mails, promises of written responses, and now a slammed door. ma'am? but no answers. and when you see just how this charity operates, you'll understand why. >> we're paying down our startup costs. >> reporter: on the organization's website, she likes to boast about the charitable gifts that her group gives away. and dvnf does give away stuff. stuff, actual veterans groups say they really don't need. it is called gifts in kinds on tax forms. instead of giving away some of the $56 million in cash raised over the past three years, dvnf gives away stuff it got for free. in 2010, the group filed this tax form claiming it provided more than $838,000 in gifts in kinds to u.s. vets, a charity in arizona. u.s. vets showed us what actually was sent. 20 pair of men's football pants, more than 100 chefs coats, 125 chefs aprons, a needle point designed pillow case, two pages worth of stuff the director told us we don't need. and take a look at what showed up at the saint benedict's veterans center in birmingham, alabama, where j.d. simpson takes homeless vets off the streets. simpson says the modest shipment included some useful items. 2300 disaster blankets, good for a couple of days' use, and some cleaning supplies. but it also included this. >> sent us a 2600 bags of cough drops, and 22 hundred little bottles of sanitizer and 11,520 bags of coconut m&ms. and didn't have a lot of use for 11,520 bags of coconut m&ms. >> reporter: here is what the dvnf posted on its website about the work they were doing in alabama. >> we send, by the truck load, items that these centers and shelters say they need desperately. >> for our veterans who have given so much to our country and now need our help -- >> great sound bite. >> reporter: did they ask you what you wanted? >> no, they say you have a truck load coming. >> the stuff on the top is what came in on the last truck, the lotion, some hand sanitizer. >> reporter: it is unpacked. >> it is unpacked. >> reporter: because they don't -- >> we have no use for it. these shelves should be filled with this. >> reporter: food. >> not that. >> reporter: do you ask yourself, well, where is the money? >> i ask myself that after i ask myself what the heck are these people doing stealing from our veterans because that's what they're doing. i don't care how you look at it. these people have sacrificed for our country. and there are some people out there that are raising money to abuse them and that makes me mad. >> reporter: executive director j.d. simpson became even more angry when these showed up. more than 700 pairs of surplus navy dress shoes. >> not a lot of use for these unless you send a person to inspection. >> reporter: those shoes are part of the yard sale that this group uses to raise real funds for the things they really need, not shoes like these. here is the question -- precilla wouldn't tell us why she sent homeless vets in alabama shiny new navy surplus shoes. >> hello, i'm precilla wilkewitz, president of the disabled veterans national foundation. >> reporter: dvnf really wouldn't tell us anything. but the group and its president continue to tell you the american public is to keep sending in those donations. >> drew, this is really unbelievable. who you does this charity get away with this? how can they take this money and not give any of it directly to the people they say they're collecting it for? >> i think part of our mission here is if people who donated actually saw where their money was going or not going, all going to a private company, in fact, that this fund-raising services business operates, i don't think they would get away with it. legally, though, there doesn't seem to be much policing of these groups, but for the nonprofit watchdog groups who rate this charity specifically, as an f. >> and all the money seems to be going directly to the company which is raising the funds. is that their business model, simply raise money for themselves? >> you know, that seems to be the bottom line. what we have been told in e-mails from this company is that the goal is maybe not to collect money, but to go to veterans, but to build a sustainable database of names to be used for the future. quadriga has been successful of taking this startup charity and getting a mailing list to work with. but no real money for the actual disabled vets, just a big mailing list. >> it is unbelievable. we'll continue on this. we're on facebook, follow me on twitter @andersoncooper. up next, drew tries to get answers. what happened to the $56 million that they raised. he tracked down the vice president of the group. we'll see what she told him next. packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer. >> announcer: you never know when, but thieves can steal your identity, turning your life upside down in a matter of seconds. >> hi. >> hi. you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> you just read my mind. >> announcer: just one little piece of information and they can open bogus accounts, stealing your credit, your money and ruining your reputation. that's why you need lifelock. lifelock is the leader in identity theft protection, relentlessly protecting your personal information to help stop the crooks in their tracks before your identity is attacked, protecting your social security number, your bank accounts, even the equity in your home. >> i didn't know how serious identity theft was... until i lost my credit and eventually i lost my home. >> announcer: credit monitoring alone is not enough to protect your identity, and only tells you after the fact, sometimes as much as 60 days later. with lifelock, as soon as we spot a threat to your identity within our network, our advanced lifelock i.d. alert system directly notifies you, protecting your identity before you become a victim. >> identity theft was a huge, huge problem for me and it's gone away because of lifelock. >> announcer: while no one can stop all identity theft, if the criminals do manage to steal your information, lifelock is there to help fix it, with our $1 million service guarantee. that's right, a $1 million service guarantee. don't wait until you become the next victim. call now to try lifelock risk-free for two full months. that's right, 60 days risk-free. use promo code: norisk. if you're not completely satisfied, notify lifelock and you won't pay a cent. order now and also get this document shredder to keep your personal documents out of the wrong hands-- a $29 dollar value, free. get the protection you need right now. call or go to lifelock.com to try lifelock risk-free for a full 60 days. use promo code: norisk. plus get this document shredder free, but only if you act right now. call now! lifelock service guarantee cannot be offered to residents of new york. we'll have more information coming up on how you can identify what charity is actually using the money that they raise wisely. we'll have more of what drew's investigation uncovered as well. but first, a "360" news and business bulletin. >> secretary of state clinton after attending peace talks. she's visiting eight countries on three continents in 13 days. a "360" follow-up, a newly released document reveals that just three days before florida a&m drum major robert champion died in the hazing incident, school officials recommended the ban be suspended due to hazing problems. george zimmerman is out of jail tonight. after posting a new bail, the original bail was rejoked was revoked after the judge said he lied about his finances. the u.s. economy added only 80,000 jobs in june. unemployment rate remains at 8.2%. more of our special report "charity cheats" after the break. more now for the group that claims to be raising money for disabled veterans. is it sounds like a great organization. but what drew griffin uncovered it going to make you very, very angry. they have an official looking seal, right there, and they raised an awful lot of money. you've maybe gotten a mailer from them. as drew report before the break, according to their own tax filings, they have raised more than $56 million in the past three years. $56 million. now, that kind of money, you would think there would be a lot of disabled veterans who they help directly. you would think they would want to show off exactly where that money has gone, right? that is not the case. drew griffin joins us again, also with us cnn senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. did you get any idea of where the money is going? >> no, the answers are very vague. we went to sacramento because precilla wilkewitz, the woman who slammed the door in my face, was going to be a presenter at a conference. she abruptly did not show for the conference. so we found the vice president, she did answer our questions, but really without answering anything specific. >> i'm here asking actual questions from your donors and our viewers who want to know what happened to that $56 million they thought they were giving to actual deserved veterans. >> well, the cost of fund-raising is high, as you know, and it has been for many veteran service organizations who use this kind of direct paying approach. >> what is the point of a fund-raiser when all of funds go to your private fund-raising company? >> well, not all of the funds do. >> well, according to the documents we've seen filed by your organization, they all do and more. $56 million, plus your other seven million. >> i think you need to talk to our washington, d.c. office. >> quite frankly, i've been trying for two years to talk to them and haven't gotten any answers, which is why i have to resort to this kind of nonsense. >> well, i'm a volunteer on the board. >> are you concerned about how this fund-raising drive has gone with your private fund-raiser? >> no, we have done nothing illegal. >> i know you have done nothing illegal, but have you done -- would you like to have more money going to the veterans or some money going to the veterans? >> absolutely there is money going to the veterans. we approve grants to individual veterans and veterans organizations on a monthly basis. >> i've seen no evidence of that other than some gifts in kind programs. >> it is really infuriating that she's -- first of all, she falls back on the, well, i'm just a volunteer on the board. they're not being transparent. they're not being up front here. they're saying they have done nothing illegal, but that's not the issue here. she claims money is going to veterans and veterans groups. have you been able to find any evidence of that? >> no, we have been looking, anderson, at this group's paperwork, that they file with the irs. the lists of what they have to show the irs to find any evidence that any actual dollars are going to veterans groups. we have also been begging them to open up other books to show us any proof it is happening. we simply cannot find it. plain and simple, they have not been able to come up with one documented piece of evidence that shows us, yes, here is money that was donated, and here it goes to the veterans who need it the most. >> what is so sleazy about this, after that interview, you would assume, well, if they actually did have money that they were giving every month to veterans groups, after you confronted that woman on the board, that you would have gotten a call the next day and they would have said, look, here is -- here is all the documentation, here is where the -- exactly where the money is going. they haven't done that. we have been on them for months, you've been on them for years and they have yet to really give a sit-down interview. i find that -- if they're doing nothing wrong, if they're being transparent and asking for people for money, they should sit down and do an interview and explain if they can, apparently they're completely unwilling to do that. >> yeah, and what you'll hear from the watchdog groups is good fund-raisers do just what you say, anderson. they have nothing to hide. >> and, drew, she's saying, as you know, fund-raising is expensive. it is expensive when you sign up with quadriga art apparently. what you found is this $56 million they raised has gone back to quadriga art and the only thing they have gotten for it is a bigger mailing list so they can raise more money down the road. >> a bigger mailing list and a bigger debt to quadriga art. this group is in debt now to their fund-raiser. it is expensive is one thing. but to go in debt to a fu

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