U.S. free speech does not protect fund raisers from fraud charges.WASHINGTON -- U.S. Charitable fund raisers who deliberately misrepresent mis·rep·re·sent tr.v. mis·rep·re·sent·ed, mis·rep·re·sent·ing, mis·rep·re·sents 1. To give an incorrect or misleading representation of. 2. the actual amounts of money that will go to the beneficiaries may be prosecuted for consumer fraud. Charity groups and fund raisers breathed a sigh of relief that the the court did not set any limits on fund raising expenses or fees paid to fund raisers. The court overruled an Illinois Supreme Court dismissal of a suit filed by the state against Telemarketing telemarketing, the practice of selling goods or services to customers by means of the telephone or of surveying consumer preferences in telephone conversations. Associates Inc. The company solicited funds on behalf of VietNow, a charity for Vietnam veterans This article is about the French band. For veterans of the Vietnam War, see Vietnam veteran. The Vietnam Veterans were a six-person French psychedelic group that released six records in the 1980s. The band was praised by many alternative music publications. . Under the contract Telemarketing kept $6 million of the $7 million raised. The Illinois courts dismissed the case because they believed that Telemarketing's First Amendment rights (freedom of speech and press) were being violated. High fund raising costs do not infer fraud, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the unanimous decision A Unanimous Decision is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking in which all 3 judges agree on which fighter won the match. written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Ruth Joan Bader Ginsburg (born March 15 1933, Brooklyn, New York) is an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Having spent 13 years as a federal judge, but not being a career jurist, she is unique as a Supreme Court justice, having spent the majority of her career as an . She added: "The First Amendment does not shield fraud. States may maintain fraud actions when fund raisers make false or misleading representations designed to deceive donors about how their donations will be used." The U.S. Supreme Court decision sets a "high burden" of proof that states must meet in order to prove fraud in charitable solicitations. The state must show that the fundraiser deliberately made a false statement "with the intent to mislead the listener, and succeeded in doing so." Pat Reed, vice president of the Independent Sector representing 22,000 charities in a national coalition, praised the decision because the court limited itself to "real fraud," and did take the position that high costs alone could not be treated as fraud. The prosecution of Telemarketing may now proceed in the Illinois courts. To read the court decision go to www.communityaction.ca |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion