For further information, contact Daniel Stepanicich, Attorney, Telecommunications Consumers Division, Enforcement Bureau, at (202) 418-7451 or Laura Strickler is a senior investigative producer and reporter for NBC News. When asked by potential donors how much of the money would go to the cause they were touting, telemarketers said they suggested it was the vast majority. Baker said he founded Salt Lake City fundraising firm American Public Resource because he hoped to support worthy goals like helping veterans.The firm was paid nearly $3 million from 2017 through mid-2019 for its work raising money for PACS that spent anywhere from 0% to 7% on their promoted causes. Good evening this is Mike Stevens calling for the . This PDF is Former Politicause employee Armstrong said he was fired in 2018, when the call center did charity fundraising, for having drugs at work. This table of contents is a navigational tool, processed from the Against that background, Congress directed the Commission to develop a streamlined process for private entities to submit robocall information to the Commission. Verify: Law enforcement charity phone calls - KSDK The PACs examined for this article typically handed over less than 10% of their take sometimes less than 1% to candidates or causes, Reuters found. The portal will collect contact information of the reporting entity, information about the suspected illegal robocall, and a description of the robocall incident. documents in the last year, 940 You are not lying, but you are being extremely misleading, said Jason Jones, 24, a former employee at Politicause. Several told NBC News that spending money on this kind of recruitment for protest runs counter to the purpose of their donation. shall send on on The "Committee for Police Officer's Defense" (CPOD) was configured in order to complete an intrinsic goal. It also has roots in charity fundraising. documents in the last year, 35 Elsewhere in the Communications Act, however, Congress used the term person to include individuals and organizational entities. Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting it official legal status. Back in 2019, a CNN investigation traced a series of mysterious robocalls claiming to raise money for Trump's wall back to Support American Leaders PAC. 47 U.S.C. People with Disabilities. There should be more transparency on this to protect consumers, he said. We agree with commenters that including individuals within the definition of private entity would undermine the intent of the statute to streamline information collection about robocalls and spoofed calls, and would create confusion for consumers about whether to use the existing informal complaint process or the new portal, or both. What is wrong with giving somebody a second chance? Zeitlin responded when Reuters asked about his hiring practices. The Republican Attorneys General Association raised more than $18 million in 2020 from several top corporations, including Pepsi, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase and Comcast, the parent company of NBC News. An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their . BIRMINGHAM, Alabama From unmarked strip-mall offices in small-town Alabama, the calls go out across the United States, meant to talk people into giving money for heart-tugging causes like helping breast cancer patients or the widows of fallen police officers. These workers were a convenient labor pool and skilled at getting people to open their wallets, former callers said. rendition of the daily Federal Register on FederalRegister.gov does not Donation | Police Officers' Defense Coalition Lisa Cavazuti is an investigative reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. 1. Everyday our protectors in law . Braille, large print, electronic files, audio format, etc.) Although the portal will not reject submissions that fail to include the above information, such failure will make it more difficult for the Bureau to investigate fully and take appropriate enforcement action. The fundraising operation used corporate names including Charity Promotions, from 2013 to 2016, and Charity Appeal, from 2016 to 2018, according to several ex-employee interviews and state filings. In addition, public entities often contact Enforcement Bureau staff directly about robocalling and spoofing matters. Reuters interviewed a dozen donors to PACs in the informal network. Police charity caution: How to know if it's a scam - WCPO Our PAC contributions to both the Republican and Democratic Attorneys General associations were used strictly for attorneys generals campaign purposes, the spokesperson said in a statement. In addition, we note that pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, we previously sought specific comment on how the Commission might further reduce the information collection burden for small business concerns with fewer than 25 employees. The Commission has determined, and the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, concurs that this rule is non-major under the Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. documents in the last year, 467 09/22/2021 at 8:45 am. establishing the XML-based Federal Register as an ACFR-sanctioned We recognize that consumers might mistakenly file complaints through the new streamlined process rather than the existing consumer complaint process. 3. One Piaro committee, Americans for the Cure of Breast Cancer, garnered $1.6 million in donations through Zeitlins fundraising operations and made one charitable contribution, $10,000 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation less than 1% of the total raised, campaign filings show. a copy of this Report and Order Rulemaking, including the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. New Documents The portal will request private entities to submit certain minimum information including, but not necessarily limited to, the name of the reporting private entity, contact information, including at least one individual name and means of contacting the entity ( The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau also forwards complaints to the Enforcement Bureau, which may use them to pursue enforcement actions. The Commission's Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) will monitor the portal. The calls always seem to come when you least expect it. Jul 10, 2020, 08:10 ET. But she said the panel has been paralyzed by partisan divisions and, more recently, a lack of a quorum. As a fundraiser for charities, Zeitlin ran into trouble with regulators. Now I'm not knocking on Mr. Fotis, I'm just reporting on what I have found and I thank him for his service in the Army and as a Police Officer. But scam PACs are not like other political action committees. Timely and thorough information from private entities is crucial to enable the Commission to mitigate illegal robocall incidents and bring swift enforcement actions. The Committee for Police Officers' Defense (CPOD) The "Committee for Police Officer's Defense" (CPOD) was configured in order to complete an intrinsic goal. Reuters gains rare access into the world of fundraising for these charitable-sounding political action committees, a tiny but profitable niche in the U.S. telemarketing industry. Commenters suggested that the Commission consolidate the new portal and its existing informal consumer complaint process, which the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau administers, or better distinguish the two processes by defining private entity to exclude consumers. In the He said only that it was based in Florida; Reuters could not determine the specific jurisdiction. Reuters interviewed a dozen donors to PACs. documents in the last year, 36 OMB, the general public, and other Federal agencies will be invited to comment on the new or modified information collection requirements contained in this proceeding. ), send an email to Looking for legal documents or records? 22. According to John Riggins,. All told, the PACs took in $83.1 million during the 2 year period examined by Reuters, about 82% of which went to the eight fundraising companies, according to the campaign disclosures required by the FEC. The current informal consumer complaint process is a vital tool for the Commission. 19. by the Foreign Assets Control Office We are proud to say its a 90-10 split, Jones recalled saying, leaving out that his company was getting the 90% share. The .gov means its official. In the 2 year period examined by Reuters, records show, TPFE and three other Zeitlin firms earned more than $27.6 million for PAC fundraising. If new workers werent making sales, they were quickly fired. Reuters obtained FTC complaint records, with names redacted, through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Bureau will review information submitted through the portal to assess violations of the rules in the same manner that it reviews information submitted to the Commission through other means. Once submitted, the Bureau will review to determine whether the information presents evidence of a violation of our rules. Even so, Reuters identified a loose network of fundraising companies and PACs that quickly grew into a money-making force, with some ranking near the top fundraisers in the period stretching from January 2017 through mid-2019. The calls, which often target elderly donors, come from a variety of generic and similar-sounding aliases: The Police Officers Support Association, the National Emergency Responders Coalition and. Rather, they and their fundraisers present the PACs as charities, suggesting they support veterans, firefighters or victims of deadly diseases, for instance. Thus, if Congress had intended to include individuals, we presume that it would have used the term person. Moreover, in other statutes the term private entity is often used to refer to organizations rather than individuals. If PACs spend nearly all of their money on fundraising and salaries, fundraisers can say they their motives were sincere and it costs money to raise money, he said. Robocalls | Federal Trade Commission Blue / Bloomberg via Getty Images. When organizations operate as political action committees, however, they are not subject to the laws governing charity fundraising, according to federal and state regulators and telemarketing industry officials. The Commission vigorously enforces violations of section 227. Streamlined Process. Committee for Police Officers Defense - Overview, News & Competitors NPRM We define private entity as any entity other than (1) an individual natural person or (2) a public entity. The callers said theyd already honed their charity pitches and so found it easy to repurpose them for the political committees, appealing to patriotism and what one called pulling heartstrings.. We could no longer say, We are helping police officers get body armor, but we could say, We are supporting efforts to get them body armor, said Jackie Armstrong, 32, a former Politicause employee. We were very clear with RAGA that we could not continue our relationship unless we had assurances that they take steps to ensure that nothing like this would happen again.. We are committed to protecting and defending law enforcement against progressive politicians, judges, and other officials that encourage the war on cops. Listen Transcript Hello, good evening. About | Police Officers' Defense Coalition The Public Inspection page We were good at slick-talking these people, one former caller, a felon, said of unwitting donors. Organizationally and individually, we strongly condemn and disavow the events which occurred., One of its members, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, attended the rally and spoke to the crowd, saying, We will not quit fighting., Following the Capitol invasion, he tweeted, I am sorely disappointed today in the certification of the election, but I dont believe violence is the answer.. How Scam PACs fall through the cracks of U.S. regulators, The motto was, Leave your morals at the door, said Alexander Lefler, 21, who worked for nearly a year at a call center southeast of Birmingham, Alabama, describing what he saw as high-pressure and deceptive tactics. Black's Law Dictionary defines entity as [a]n organization (such as a business or a governmental unit) that has a legal identity apart from its members or owners. Second, we find that, as a policy matter, we should exclude individuals from the definition of private entity as the term is used in section 10(a) of the TRACED Act. In this document, we have created a new online portal located on the Commission website where private entities, including small businesses, may submit information about robocall or spoofing violations. James Dellinger, 34, said he and other callers got in the door with a remarkable qualification they were in jail. We have been assured by RAGA that none of our contributions to RAGA were given to the Rule of Law Defense Fund., In a statement, Comcast said: "We have long supported Democratic and Republican associations of attorneys general. 804(2). That could punish well-intentioned organizations, he said. Its hard to bring these cases unless you have evidence disproving that..