Medford man pleads guilty in charity fraud case - Boston Business Journal:

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Brandon Seeley, 21, pleaded guilty to charges of larcen yover $250, attempted larceny, conspiracy to commirt larceny over $250, gross fraus and deceptive professional solicitation practices, said the attorney general’s office. Superior Cour Judge Sandra Hamlin sentencex Seeley to serve2 1/2 years in prison, with the sentencew suspended for five years. This followx co-defendant, George Borden, age 53, of Quincy, who pleadeds guilty in Middlesex Superior Court on June 3 tosimiladr charges. Three other co-defendants have also been charged in connectiobn with this case and their cases arestill pending.
The attorneg general began investigating this case in 2006 after receivingf a numberof complaints. Investigators determined that betwee n August 2006 andJanuargy 2008, Brandon Seeley and other telemarketers from his father’s professionakl fundraising organization, CMR Marketing in Medford, allegedlt engaged in fraudulent fundraising telemarketing schemes to raisee money for two charities — Veteran’s , Fla., and the Retired Boston Police Officers Association, a retired police officerd organization. Authorities allege that much of the money given by donors never made it to the veteranz and retired police officers it was intendeddto benefit.
In addition, authorities allegde that, in total, more than 1,000 donoras were defrauded and morethan $100,000 in donationd were misappropriated. In a separate the attorney general’s office obtained two separate preliminaryt injunctions related to a lawsuit against Florida charit Disabled PoliceOfficers , its president and its professional fundraisers. Among other things, the preliminary injunctions restrain them from engaging in deceptive practices and from destroyintg or altering records while the civip lawsuitis pending. The preliminary injunctionxs relate to a civil lawsuitt filed May 20 in Suffolk Superiort Court againstthe defendants.
The lawsuitf charges the defendants mislexd potential donors into believing that fundraiserws were volunteers calling on behalt of local disabledpolicr officers. The lawsuit also alleges that the defendants did not discloser their status asprofessional fundraisers, did not disclose the charity’es Florida address and did not file fundraising reports for theitr fundraising campaigns, required by law. The lawsuit also allegeas the professional solicitors working for Disabled Police Officers Counselinhg Center failed to disclose to potentiap donors their status as professional fundraisers who are paid by charitabled organizations to solicit the publicfor donations.