2 Telemarketers Face Fraud Counts
A federal grand jury has indicted two telemarketers on fraud charges, saying they raised $27 million ostensibly to help veterans, firefighters and AIDS patients but provided only $1 million to charities.
Mitchell D. Gold and Jonathan P. Cohen ran Santa Ana-based U.S. Marketing and North American Charitable Services, according to the 33-count indictment handed down this week.
The men used telemarketing firms around the country to raise funds on behalf of the American Veterans Relief Fund, Firefighters Assn. of America, Adolescent AIDS Foundation and Handicapped Children’s Services of America.
According to the indictment, potential donors were read scripts co- written by Gold and Cohen.
The donors were “falsely informed” that the money they contributed would be spent on charity, prosecutors said.
“In virtually every case, each nonprofit received less than 5% of the donations raised . . . in that nonprofit’s name,” the indictment states.
The scripts also said the contributions were tax-deductible when they were not, prosecutors said.
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