海角大神

Former NBA player Kermit Washington faces up to 40 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines if convicted of charges brought against him this week by a federal grand jury that he evaded taxes and defrauded donors to his charity, according to the US Department of Justice.

Mr. Washington allegedly promised donors to his 32-year-old charity , including other former athletes, that 100 percent of their donations would go to needy families in Africa. Instead, it has been charged, Washington spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations on personal gifts and jewelry and entertainment. He also used the charity's money to pay his rent and to go on vacations, says the justice deparment.

鈥淚ndividuals who use charitable organizations to defraud donors and evade tax obligations and cause untold damage to well-intentioned charitable endeavors,鈥� said Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo聽in a statement. 鈥淭he department is committed to identifying those engaged in such criminal conduct and holding them accountable,鈥� she said.

Fraud happens in the nonprofit, tax-exempt world, though there is no evidence that it is widespread.

"It's a few bad apples that paint a bad picture,"聽Rick Cohen, spokesman for the National Council of Nonprofits, an association of charities, tells the Monitor in a phone interview.

It's difficult to know how many charities commit fraud. One of the only聽ways, and not a very good one, to estimate the number is to look at how many nonprofits report illegal financial activity committed by their employees on their tax filings, which is required by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS): about 1,000 per year, estimates Chuck McLean, senior research fellow at GuideStar, a website of information about nonprofits.聽

鈥淥ut of a million charities, it鈥檚 a pretty small percentage, but it鈥檚 more than you would like to have,鈥� Mr. McLean tells 海角大神 in an interview.

Considering that in 2013 charitable contributions reached , according to a 2014 report from Giving USA, it鈥檚 important for donors to know that their contributions are spent as promised, rather than getting diverted to support the lifestyles of the Kermit Washingtons of the world.

鈥淲e recommend giving local or to a group that you have a connection to,鈥� says Mr. Cohen. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e giving to a local group, you can see the results of your donation or be engaged through volunteering,鈥� he says.

But sometimes, a donor鈥檚 charitable aspirations are national or international. In those cases, there are myriad ways to investigate the legitimacy of a charity before handing over money. The caveat is that it takes some work.

鈥淭here is no magic bullet,鈥� says McLean.聽

A good first step toward quickly evaluating a nonprofit is to peruse its website to see if it鈥檚 transparent about its work, its staff and board members, and how much money it makes and spends. Washington's charity website doesn't list this type of information.

Searching online for possible complaints about an organization is also a good idea, as is searching websites such as , which can confirm that a nonprofit is actually registered as such with the IRS. GuideStar also offers financial and other important information.

鈥淐ome to GuideStar and search for the name of the charity,鈥� says McLean. 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 find it, there鈥檚 something wrong there.鈥�

Other charity-rating and information sites include: , and . There鈥檚 also the Better Business Bureau, which monitors charities and offers information to donors through .

Project Contact Africa barely passes the GuideStar search test. It is a government-approved nonprofit and listed as such on GuideStar, but it would have been hard for a donor to find, because it is listed only under the name 鈥�,鈥� with Washington named as executive director. None of the other nonprofit databases list Project Contact Africa.

If a charity is listed in an IRS-approved database on one of these sites, the next best bit of research to do would be to look at the group's tax filings, known as Form 990. Most nonprofits 鈥� except for some houses of worship and other religious organizations 鈥� are required to file a Form 990 annually with the IRS. The 990s that are publicly available, however, are usually a year or more old.

But the tax filings include important financial information, details on governance and operations, and they have to be handed over to anyone who asks for them. Many nonprofits willingly post 990s every year on their websites, which is a good sign.

For signs of fraud or other financial inconsistencies, McLean advises that donors look at the 990 supplemental section, 鈥淪chedule O,鈥� which would describe the nature of any reported fraud and how it was handled. Though as The Washington Post has reported, some nonprofits here.

While Washington is accused of filing fake 990s, McLean points out that there is still some useful information in the foundation鈥檚 2013 tax filings.

For one thing, it shows that 6th Man Foundation鈥檚 revenue 鈥� the accuracy of which is questionable 鈥� had been declining for about a decade up to 2013, from around $200,000 to $50,000.

鈥淕enerally speaking, businesses are either growing or they鈥檙e dying,鈥� says McLean. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the same thing with a charity.鈥�

For McLean, the revenue would immediately raise a question: What is the chance that a small charity with the mission, 鈥淭o support a medical clinic in Africa for needy families and children,鈥� according to its 990, could be as effective as large organizations doing the same work in Africa? Very little, he says.

He also points out that the nonprofit鈥檚 board has three members. A donor would want to explore who the board members are and how they鈥檙e connected to the charity founder. 聽

鈥淯ltimately, it is the board that鈥檚 a fiduciary in this case, so it鈥檚 responsible for making sure the charity is honestly run,鈥� says McLean.

A board comprising several family members can be a bad sign.

鈥淲hen you have those intertwined familial boards, that鈥檚 almost always a red flag,鈥� says McLean. 鈥淎nd not necessarily because they're doing anything illegal, but because that鈥檚 not the right way to find boards.鈥澛�

Also, he warns, watch out for charities headed by celebrities such as Washington. In McLean鈥檚 experience, these groups are often more about vanity than mission.

In Washington's case, the alleged exploitation of donors led to his arrest Tuesday in Los Angeles and an initial appearance in US District Court. The ex-basketball star was ordered to surrender his passport and was released on bond with a tracking device. His next court date is tentatively scheduled for June 16.