Telemarketer Gets 1 Year in Prison

The owner of a telemarketing firm that solicited donations for charities was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kim McLane-Wardlaw on Monday to one year in prison and two years probation for filing a false tax return and possession of counterfeit securities.

Abe Silfani, 44, owner of the Hollywood-based A & S Productions, diverted more than $280,000 without reporting the extra income on his tax return, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick Walsh. Silfani was also convicted of possessing more than $217,000 in counterfeit traveler’s checks. During a joint investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and FBI, Silfani sold the counterfeit Visa International Traveler’s checks to undercover agents, Walsh said.

The origin of the checks is unclear, Walsh said. Federal investigators seized the checks in searches of Silfani’s business and his Castaic home.

Although Silfani’s firm kept as much as 90% of donations, Walsh said the telemarketing firm was legitimate. Many charities contract with telemarketing firms to solicit donations from the public.

Earlier this month, state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren released an annual report on charitable giving that showed that less than 37% of every dollar raised by commercial fund-raisers actually went to charitable organizations. Under Supreme Court rulings protecting commercial fund-raising as free speech, solicitors are not required by law to pass on a specific percentage of the money they raise to charities. However, all fund-raisers are required to disclose to the government, and to anyone who asks for the information in the course of their solicitations, what percentage of donations they keep, according to Matt Ross, a spokesman for the California attorney general’s office.