Feed The Children may owe Oklahoma $1.1M
Feed The Children’s ex-accountants say they were fired for pointing out that taxes were owed
BY NOLAN CLAY
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30
Published: October 17, 2009
Modified: October 19, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Modified: October 19, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Two accountants who worked at Feed The Children say the charity owes $1.1 million to the state of Oklahoma in back taxes on purchases. They allege the chief financial officer wanted to cover it up.
Accountants Stephanie Dean and Stefani Hovarter made the accusations in a wrongful termination lawsuit. The charity’s board of directors fired them Sept. 29. They allege they were fired in retaliation for notifying the board of "potential fraud or illegality in the failure to report and pay taxes owed to the state of Oklahoma.” Feed The Children officials declined comment Friday. The chief financial officer, Christy Tharp, could not be reached for comment. The lawsuit is the sixth this year involving the controversial charity that claims to raise more than $1 billion in cash and goods a year. The Oklahoma City-based Christian relief organization is widely known, primarily for founder Larry Jones’ heart-wrenching televised appeals for funds to feed hungry children in Africa and elsewhere. The charity has been in turmoil for a year because of a dispute over who was in charge there. Jones agreed in August to give up operational control. He continues to work for Feed The Children as a spokesman and fundraiser. The two accountants and an accounting supervisor notified the state Tax Commission on Sept. 17 that "we have detected a tax delinquency for Feed The Children.” At issue are "use” taxes a purchaser is supposed to pay to the state for goods if a supplier doesn’t charge sales taxes. The accountants and the supervisor told the board in a memo Sept. 17 that the charity owed Oklahoma approximately $1.1 million for purchases from Jan. 1, 2002, to June 30, 2009. They told the board that the Tax Commission could cut the liability in half since they had reported it. "It is possible that a similar tax liability exists in other states,” they wrote. In the memo, they allege Tharp knew about the problem for years. They allege she indicated she decided not to report the liability to the Tax Commission "in the hopes that the statute of limitations would expire” without the Tax Commission finding out. They allege she decided this year "it would possibly be safe ... to begin filing use tax returns” because she believed the statute of limitations had expired. The charity paid $16,183 in use taxes for July purchases. Dean worked at the charity for more than a year and was controller. Hovarter worked there since March 2. They sued Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court. They want to be compensated for lost income and emotional damages. They also seek punitive damages. The defendants are Feed The Children and directors Rick England, Leo Fundaro, C. Earnest Wyatt and Dan Mugg.
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James Foard
The fact that so many donors are probably needy themselves yet still donated to help others have been scammed out of there money.
Its a good thing for them that Jesus is so forgiving. But many donors aren't so forgiving and will probably never donate again.
- Oct 17, 2009 at 3:05 pm
And what is your excuse, coward?
Ted Haggard
Jim & Tammy Faye Bakker
Richard Roberts
Priest-pedophiles
Jimmy Swaggert
Jim Jones
David Koresh
Really?
It IS (supposedly) a Christian organization, correct?
The founder of this is an Okie, right?
So tell me, how is this NOT affiliated with Christianity OR Okieland, anyway?
Tell me, isn't Sally K an okie? You gonna try and blame her on some other state? How about the okies who voted her into office?
How's about Stipe? Another "non" okie?
Face it Bill, this is ALL about the hypocrisy of both Okies AND okie "Christians"....
--
I don't look at what I write as "funny", I see it more as a realistic swipe of how pathetic okieland is.
Sure, "other" states have some crooked preachers as well, but isn't it okieland who always proclaims to be on the moral high ground in just about everything? Isn't it okieland that ranks near or at dead last in all areas? Best at being worst, and worst at being best in anything.
All this preaching and yet okies morals and "family values" are in the celler(actually a couple levels BELOW the cellar).
This is THE most immoral and hypocritical state I've ever had the displeasure of residing in.
A crooked religious group?
In okieland?