The American Cancer Society of Michigan, state authorities say, was a fake charity. And not even a good fake. It was not in Michigan, for one thing. When the group applied to the Internal Revenue Service to become a tax-exempt nonprofit in 2020, it listed its address as a rented mailbox on Staten Island. It was not the American Cancer Society, either: In fact, the real American Cancer Society had already warned the I.R.S. that the leader of the sound-alike group, Ian Hosang, was running a fraud. The I.R.S. approved the group anyway. Soon after, it also approved another operation run by Mr. Hosang: the United Way of Ohio, which was also registered to the Staten Island address. Mr. Hosang, 63, is now accused by prosecutors in New York of operating a long-running charity fraud that has astounded nonprofit regulators and watchdogs and raised concerns about the I.R.S.s ability to serve as gatekeeper for the American charity system. Not because the alleged scheme was so good. Because it was terrible. And it worked. Mr. Hosang a convicted stock-market fraudster once accused of dangling a man out of a building got the I.R.S. to approve 76 nonprofits, often despite glaring red flags of potential fraud. His operations stole the names of better-known charities. They claimed to be located where they obviously were not. But the I.R.S. kept saying yes. And in doing so, the agency has attracted scrutiny of its new fast-track system for approving charities an innovation implemented to deal with backlogs and budget cuts that now denies only one application in 2,400, according to agency statistics. Nobodys watching the store, said Nina E. Olson, who was the I.R.S.s in-house national taxpayer advocate from 2001 to 2019 and warned repeatedly about the decreased level of vetting. Theyre the gatekeeper to this whole universe of charitable subsidies. And if the I.R.S. is not doing its job as a gatekeeper, then youve got real problems. The agency declined to answer questions about Mr. Hosangs case, citing taxpayer privacy laws. It also declined to make officials available for in-person interviews, but it released a written statement saying that the fast-track approval system continues to reduce taxpayer burden and increase cost effectiveness of I.R.S. operations. Mr. Hosang was indicted in Brooklyn in May on charges of grand larceny, identity theft and conducting a scheme to defraud. He has pleaded not guilty. The Brooklyn district attorney said he stole about $152,000 in donations that flowed through 23 of his nonprofits. Mr. Hosang did not need to do much to promote the groups; the money came in through online giving platforms that let users choose among I.R.S.-approved charities. Mr. Hosang, prosecutors said, spent the money on mortgage payments, credit card bills and at liquor stores. I did very wrong. I know that, Mr. Hosang said in an emotional interview with The New York Times at his home on Staten Island. His voice breaking, Mr. Hosang said he had changed his life after a near-death spike in blood sugar in 2020, which he took as a sign from God. He said he wanted to make restitution for what he had done. But, Mr. Hosang pointed out, every one of his charities had been approved. If you file something with an agency, he said, and they approve it, do you think its illegal?
Full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/03/us/politics/irs-fake-charities.html
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Dolphins are people too! https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/1404-cetacea-cove
IRS needs a billion dollar funding increase because with a wider scale of employees and technology, they might actually do their goddamn jobs alot more efficiently with these scammers and especially with big corporate.
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New York Rangers [2004-2008] https://media.giphy.com/media/WvQHBYW0q4TuxdAg61/giphy.gif https://psnprofiles.com/Jaromiroquai68
Republicans have spent the last decade decimating the IRS's funding in order to advance their kleptocracy so no surprise they're reduced to just rubber-stamping things when they're underfunded and understaffed.