Fund’s 9/11 Contributions Stolen
The Los Angeles Times has told police that $65,000 was stolen from the newspaper’s Disaster Relief Fund, set up after Sept. 11 for the victims, their families and relief workers.
In a full-page letter to readers today, Times publisher John P. Puerner said the newspaper learned recently that some contributions made by credit card, not personal check, were not turned over to disaster relief agencies. “Instead some of these donations were misdirected and fraudulently processed,” Puerner says in the letter.
The relief effort, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, collected a total of $2.5 million.
“We deeply regret that this has happened,” the letter states. “Be assured that the Los Angeles Times will make corporate contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund to replace all funds misdirected by the fraud.”
Puerner also says the paper will cover any funds that it may later discover stolen.
He concludes: “We recognize that the public trust between our readers and The Times is a sacred one, and we will work diligently to protect that trust.”
Puerner declined to comment further.
According to Martha Goldstein, vice president of communications for The Times, two donors brought the credit card irregularities to the newspaper’s attention, “and we immediately put together a team” to investigate.
“When we began to gather the facts, we discovered there was misappropriation and we decided it was very, very important to inform our readers,” she said.
Although the campaign was sometimes advertised as a joint campaign with the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV Channel 5, only donations sent to The Times were discovered stolen. KTLA, which like The Times is owned by the Tribune Co., is not involved, Goldstein said.
The Times letter advises donors of several indicators of fraud: a transaction from “LATF-Real Estate” or “LATF” on a credit card statement or an acknowledgment letter from the Los Angeles Times Fund with no return address or telephone number. Anyone who receives these should call (800) 252-4000.
The Times turned over its information regarding the fraud to Los Angeles police Tuesday, according to Capt. Al Michelena of the LAPD financial crimes division.
“Apparently, during the month of January was when it happened,” Michelena said.
Neither the police captain nor Goldstein would discuss possible suspects or other details.
“These paper trails usually lead to somebody,” Michelena said.
