Complain about a product or service

Ohio Shuts Down Charity Bingo Game

Trustees accused of stealing bingo proceeds

February 12, 2008

• Read More Scam Alerts ...

The state of Ohio has filed suit charging the trustees of the Central Ohio Association for Children’s Higher Education (COACHE) skipped with hundreds of thousands of dollars in bingo proceeds.

The lawsuit seeks to recover the charitable funds allegedly embezzled by the trustees of the Springfield, Ohio non-profit corporation.

“Not only did the leaders of this organization violate the law, they hurt their community by failing to meet their charitable goals. As a result, hundreds of thousands of dollars that should have been used to help kids have been wasted,” said Attorney General Marc Dann.

According to information contained in the complaint, COACHE was originally established in 1994 to “target the young people who are at risk to fall through the cracks of the normal system for higher education.” The suit charges that COACHE operated a lucrative bingo game but made only nominal charitable contributions to the community.

Under Ohio law, proceeds from charitable gaming must be directed toward specific charitable purposes. The lawsuit contends that in one recent year COACHE provided only $6,000 in charitable support despite generating more than $3 million in bingo revenues.

More than $844,000 is unaccounted for and believed to have been diverted to personal use by the organization’s leaders. Last week, the COACHE Board of Trustees agreed to surrender its bingo license to the Ohio Attorney General.

The suit maintains that the trustees under-reported bingo revenue, over-reported expenses, and converted bingo proceeds for their own salaries, cell phones and credit cards. Additionally, the suit alleges that the organization falsified filings with the Ohio Attorney General’s office and the Internal Revenue Service.

“The trustees have violated their fiduciary obligations and should be required to return all the funds that otherwise would have been used to support the charitable purpose,” said Dann. “We’re asking the court to require the defendants to return the inappropriate funds they received and pay restitution, interest, compensatory and punitive damages and civil penalties.”

More Scam Alerts ...

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |