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New York man indicted in alleged police charity scam

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A New York City man has been indicted on charges of defrauding dozens of businesses and individuals through a bogus charity he set up purportedly for the families of police officers killed in the line of duty revolving around the September 11 attacks, sources said.

Justin Patrick White, 57, was the president of the Police Survivors' Fund, a legitimate not-for-profit corporation under New York law that obtained nearly half a million dollars in donations from January 2000 through December 2001.

Only $14,500 of these donations, or approximately 3 percent, went to families of slain New York City police officers, according to James Comey, the U.S. attorney for New York's southern district.

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White's attorney, Paul Testaverde, said his client is "completely innocent" and that the U.S. attorney has "arbitrarily drawn a line" that the percentage of the donations given to the families of the slain officers was inadequate and therefore automatically qualified as criminal activity.

Testaverde claimed that his client used the donations to pay the organization's expenses and gave whatever was left to the families. He could not comment on the actual figures because he said law officers had refused to grant him access to the documents they seized when they arrested White in May, and he had not seen a copy of the indictment.

The purpose of the fund was to "aid financially the surviving members of a family where the parent police officer had been killed," according to the statement White gave to the Charities Bureau of the New York attorney general's office when he applied to operate the organization in October 1999.

White allegedly trained numerous telemarketers in techniques to solicit maximum donations. A donor could become a "lifetime member" of the fund with a $1,000 donation or a one-year member with a $395 donation, and would receive a certificate to display to indicate the donation.

Telemarketers were given scripts to read to potential donors, urging them to "go all out for the widows and the children," and directing them to state that "surely you can do that for the widows and the children."

White instructed telemarketers not to volunteer information about the percentage of the donations that would go to the families, and that a prospective donor who asked how much would be transferred to the families was unlikely to contribute and that the telemarketer "should not waste time but move on to the next call," the indictment alleges.

Comey said that White's scam took on a new aspect after the terrorist attacks on September 11, and he modified the telemarketer script to read, "A lot of people who feel very strongly about what happened at the World Trade Center ... are donating $911 to commemorate the day of terrorism." The script continued that if a donor could not afford the sum, he or she should "save face in the community with $50."

The indictment -- handed out Monday -- alleges that despite repeated notification from the state attorney general's office, the Police Survivors' Fund failed to file state or federal tax returns for 1999, 2000, and 2001.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said White is currently free on $250,000 bail.

White is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and three counts of mail fraud, and could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each charge if convicted.