NYC's Homeless Scam Busted

One of New York City's most visible homeless charities is a sham, according to the state's attorney general. Since the late 1980s, tourist-packed areas in midtown Manhattan have been peppered with large plastic jugs set up on card tables to collect money for a group called the United Homeless Organization. People working the tables routinely say the money goes to services like food pantries, shelters and drug treatment centers. In reality, almost all donations wind up being pocketed by the group's staff and founders, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a civil suit filed Monday. "UHO exploits the good intentions of people who thought that their charitable donations were helping to fund services for the homeless," Cuomo said in a written statement. "Instead, their donations go directly to UHO's principals and workers, who abused the organization's tax-exempt status to line their own pockets."If so many people have known for years and years that this was a fraudulent organization, why was Cuomo's action so long in coming? I still see that same guy in front of Grand Central.
Labels: Andrew Cuomo, homelessness, NYC, scam artists