The two reporters continue:
Internal Revenue Service records show the Tic Toc Stop nonprofit has raised more than $1 million since Carton — who was suspended from his sports-talk radio job following his arrest Wednesday — founded it in 2013 to “fight against Tourette Syndrome.”
...
In its IRS filings, Tic Top Stop lists two unexplained “contributions” totaling $103,390 made in 2013-’14. Even if that entire amount went to treatment or research, that would account for less than 10 percent of what the charity has taken in, the filings reveal.
An expert with the Charity Navigator watchdog group said the lack of any “program expenses” in its most recent, 2015 filing raised a “major red flag.”
“We rarely ever see organizations report zero for program expenses,” Katie Rusnock said.
“We occasionally see low ratios, but this is definitely far outside the norm.”
Earlier this year, Tic Top Stop’s fourth annual celebrity golf outing was co-chaired by board member Doug Pardon, whom The Post has identified as the “hedge fund partner” Carton targeted to allegedly scam $4.6 million from Brigade Capital Management.
The next 6 paragraphs rehash the Ponzi charges.
OK so there's problems with this one filing. But why did Golding and Mongelli stop there? Why not dig deeper?
Imprimis -- what about the funding of the dental appliance potentially used to treat the tics of Tourettes?
Timothy L. Hottel, Dean of the College of Dentistry at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center reportedly received $340,000 from TicTocStop, Inc., for the 'Clinical Study on Use of Oral Appliances in Mitigating Severity, Frequency of Motor and Vocal Tics.' At the time Dr Hottel was quoted as saying, "This is the first time in medical history that a multi-site study of this type has been done," said Dr. Hottel. "We are proud to be part of this forward-thinking research initiative to determine the viability of the TicTocStop appliance. This device may have the potential to help tens of thousands of people who suffer from motor and vocal tics."
How was that not mentioned in the Post article? 2 words: Rush job. We reached out to Dr. Hottel and received an out of office email. We've since reached out to John S. Covington, D.D.S., M.S., B.S.. - Professor Admin-College of Dentistry Associate Dean Dean-Coll of Dentistry at UT and are awaiting a reply. How did the Post NOT reach out and ask, "Hey, btw...you happen to take $340K from Craig Carton's charity?"
Secondly - what about Camp Carton? Now in its 4th year, Camp Carton was a weeklong sleepaway camp for children with Tourette Syndrome from the Northeast between ages 10 and 13. Camp Carton reportedly provided these children with a safe and supportive environment where they were free to have fun and build self-confidence. Just this past June WFAN had camp ambassador Ethan Smith on to talk about his experience with the Camp.
Was that all faked? If so - it's a helluva bigger story than Golding presents. Was Camp Carton 2017 faked as well?
All stuff a piece on fraud within a charity had to include. And it doesn't. Because the NYP needed to rush it up and Tweet about it and push it as an exclusive. That sucks.
But this isn't the first time over at the NYP. The NY Post tried to muddy Boomer Esiason's charity work with an argument by innuendo 5 years ago. There's a joke that follows Esiason regarding his work with the Boomer Esiason Foundation: The foundation could save money on ink if the calendar dates on which Boomer wasn't working a fund raising event were marked instead of noting the days he is traveling and working.
The NY Post's Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein (yes, it took two writers, including the winner of the Canadian Association of Journalists' Award for excellence in investigative journalism and a Southam Fellowship, to develop 6 paragraphs then too) decided to plant seeds of doubt as to Boomer and his wife Cheryl's actual work load for which they receive token $10,000 salaries (which are donated back to the charity) and approximately $23,000 worth of health, life, and disability insurance per person. They wrote at the time:
The 2010 return showed the couple each worked 30 hours a week for the charity although Boomer already has three other jobs — as host of the daily “Boomer & Carton” radio show on WFAN, TV analyst for “The NFL Today on CBS” and radio commentator for “Monday Night Football.”
Adding: "Esiason’s earnings from his playing days, including endorsement deals, were a reported $24 million."
Anyone who was even a casual listener of the Boomer & Carton radio program was aware of the frequent 8 hour days the former NFL quarterback puts in at foundation events. (And that doesn't include travel to and from.) We reported the day the report appeared:
Since starting the BEF in 1993, the co-chair couple has helped "heighten awareness, education and the quality of life for those affected by cystic fibrosis, while providing financial support to research aimed at finding a cure." That financial support is now up over $100,000,000. Yes, that's eight zeroes.
Charity Navigator "is an independent, non-profit organization that evaluates American charities." It gives the BEF an overal score of 63.88 out of 70 and a 4 star (its highest) rating. Accountability & Transparency as well as financial ratings are also both 4 stars. For comparison, the American Red Cross is given a 59.64 and 3 stars.
What does Boomer's lifetime NFL earnings have to do with with this? Nothing. Does Boomer not work 30 hours per week on average for the BEF? The writers want you to draw an irrelevant conclusion -- and if you're going to write it as if you don't believe it -- prove it.
And why not take it a step further and point out that $23,000 is 0.3899305025170014% of the Boomer Esiason Foundation's revenue generated last year?
Because the NY Post knows that you, the reader, are stupid.
Reached for comment, Boomer writes: "I have no idea why they would write this. I'll comment tomorrow on WFAN. I think its best I do it there."
And he did. “The reason I do that is because as a former 14-year NFL football player, I do not have long-term health care (or) insurance benefits through the NFL. It’s been a big bone of contention,” said Esiason. “WFAN, CBS and Westwood One, they do not offer me health care through their programs. I have to go through a different union health care situation that does not optimize Gunnar’s care.
“And Gunnar is the most important thing in my life; he suffers from cystic fibrosis, it’s a fatal genetic disease. I have never made any apology for ever making sure that my son is taken care of the way that he’s supposed to be taken care of.”
Seems the NY Post continues to mail it in when it comes to charity investigations. But give the some time...Justin Terranova will be up soon enough with a rehashed bit of 5 possible replacements for Craig Carton...don't you worry. (And we'll update if and when Drs. Hottell and or Covington get back to us on the study's funding.)
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