Posted on 11/06/2009 11:24:09 AM PST by milwguy
In a fast-breaking development comes word that agents of the Attorney’s General office in Louisiana have raided ACORN’s offices in New Orleans. ACORN’s New Orleans was, for decades, the headquarters of the national community organizing association. News of the raid comes from Marcel Reid and her colleagues at ACORN 8, an association of former ACORN leaders and board members. Many of the individuals involved with ACORN 8 were fired from ACORN for demanding a forensic audit following an embezzlement scandal involving Dale Rathke, brother of ACORN co-founder Wade Rathke.
Check back her for more details, as well as a statement from ACORN 8 head Marcel Reid.
(Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
I saw criticism of Hannah and James that they had interfered in a govt investigation - yeah, I bet that would have proceeded within the next decade or so.
This was a raid initiated by the state of LA, which has a GOP governor.
Good freaking grief!! Wade rathke cleared out the bad stuff MONTHS and MONTHS ago!!
Yes, I just posted the NOLA article about it. Bobby Jindal can gain some serious cred if his AG can expose the rotten core that is ACORN.
Don’t worry, I am sure there are incriminating e-mails of a bunch of the computers they seized. If the HQ staff is as competent as the staff advising the ‘pimp and hooker’, their computers are probably full of good stuff. These dimwits probably thought hitting the ‘delete’ button would erase evidence of their crimes. Forensic investigators will have a field day restoring the ‘destroyed’ e-mails and files.
How do you figure Holder did this?
I hope they are very very thorough
I wonder if SEIU in included???
OK...I agree...
Get em Jindal!
Your stock is rising.
Last I read they shared the same location...maybe the same office suite...
The story now makes it clear that it was the Louisiana AG's office that initiated the raid - this is NOT a federal operation.
ha ha ha .....just saw this and now I know they are sunk...........The employees who left took computers that had incriminating evidence on them when they left last month. I would bet $ to donuts they had sent or copied incriminating files and email to other computers in that office. If there are incriminating emails, they will always be on two computers, the one which sent it and the one which received it. The AG will find plenty to sink ACORN
....Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said a warrant was obtained to seize computers, hard drives and other documents after ACORN attorneys said two unidentified former employees took computers and other items when they left the organization.
Caldwell said investigators will copy records and hard drives, then return them to ACORN.
He said the original allegations of embezzlement were made last year by ACORN board members who were fired after they asked for a forensic examination of the group’s books.
ACORN fired the longtime director of its Louisiana chapter last month, citing a lack of accountability
Hope the investigation spreads to all 57 states!
Let’s hope so! Hehehe! (evil, maniacal laugh)
Let’s hope Hannah and James have another video in the works... and put this in the proper spotlight.
Read further...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
******************************EXCERPT*************************************
There is an old saying, "it's not the crime but the cover up". Martha Stewart is a good example. Her initial crime would have likely lead to a somewhat hefty fine had she admitted to it. Because she attempted to cover it up, she wound up going to jail.
The story of the formation of ACORN 8 can be summed up by a new saying, "it's the crime AND the cover up".
In May of 2008, it was first revealed to the board of ACORN that nearly a decade earlier Dale Rathke had embezzled about one million dollars from Citizens Consulting Inc., the financial services arm of ACORN, and Wade Rathke, the long time CEO of ACORN, along with 8 other lieutenants, had covered it up. As such, at the next board meeting, Karen Inman, board member from Minnesota, brought a motion to remove Dale Rathke from the organization as well as remove Wade Rathke from his post as CEO. The motion was seconded by about twenty other board members and motion eventually passed later in the meeting.
Because of the seriousness of the crimes, ACORN also decided to form an investigative committee. The committee was given the duty of investigating the embezzlement and anything related to it, so that such criminality would never happen again. The committee would consist of Ms. Inman, who would focus on legal issues. Marcel Reid , board member from Washington D.C., would focus on the organizational structure of ACORN. Meanwhile, Carol Hemingway would focus on financial issues.
For the next two months, the three ladies began investigating ACORN in order to make sure that any systemic and structural problems were removed. They found all sorts of anecdotal evidence that the organization was involved in much more criminality than simply the embezzlement. For instance, in an email, ACORN's attorney, Steve Bachmann. indicated to Inman that ACORN had been involved in ERISA violations. Bachmann indicated that ACORN employee pension funds were mismananged. Inman also found instances of lesser embezzlement. (between $6000 and $9000) She found instances in which affiliates that were 501 (C)3's were mingling their funds with those that were of other tax structures. (that's a tax violation because 501 (C)3's enjoy special tax protection that other organizations do not) Often, when people within ACORN would reveal past criminality, that admission would be followed by this quote "but that doesn't happen anymore". (which is interestingly enough what Mike Jones, Comptroller of CCI told Inman about the events that lead to another piece of criminality discovered outside this investigation)
Meanwhile, Marcel Reid found evidence that CCI, Citizen's Consulting Inc., was much more than merely the accounting and financial services arm of ACORN. She found evidence that CCI was the financial weigh station of all ACORN funds. Any monies, be it from charities or even government grants, would wind up at CCI first and then be transferred to anyone of several hundred ACORN affiliates. Reid even found evidence of co mingling and misuse of funds. There was again anecdotal evidence that earmarked monies weren't winding up where they were supposed to go. In other words, the government might give millions to fund health care projects in poor neighborhoods but it would wind up funding a media campaign.
What was missing was the financial evidence that would tie all of this together. That evidence lied in the financial statements of ACORN. In fact, Inman believed that a full forensic accounting audit would be necessary to get to the bottom of things. So, Ms. Inman decided to approach Liz Wolff, the Research Director of ACORN to request viewing the books.. When she came to see Wolff, Inman found her door closed. Minutes later, the door opened and walked out Wade Rathke, the same Wade Rathke that was supposedly removed from ACORN only months earlier. After meeting with Inman, Wolff refused to allow her to see ACORN's. books.
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