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Attorney General sues nonprofit organization
By MARC KOVAC
COLUMBUS
Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has filed suit against a national nonprofit organization that has collected $1.9 million in donations from Ohioans in the name of helping military veterans.
During a press conference near the Statehouse Thursday, Cordray called the U.S. Navy Veterans Association “a phony outfit that is simply using the good name of our armed forces ... to cheat Ohioans and other patriotic Americans.”
The state has requested temporary restraining orders to stop the Florida-based group from collecting donations in Ohio, with hopes of confiscating new donations for future return to donors.
With the action, Ohio joins a number of other states investigating the association and its activities. The issue came to light after an investigation by the St. Petersburg Times newspaper, which questioned whether the group was using donations to assist veterans or if some of the donations went instead to political candidates.
“The closer we look at this organization, the more outrageous its conduct appears,” Cordray said. “The evidence is mounting that the association is misrepresenting its mission. It is trading on the good name of our armed forces and patriotic Americans to solicit funds that it says will be used to assist veterans directly. Instead, we have reason to ask whether some of those funds are actually going to political campaigns.”
The main individual associated with the U.S. Navy Veterans Association has disappeared and “is on the lam,” Cordray said. Others listed on charitable registration documents filed with the state could not be found.