Charity Fundraiser Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
Dec 11, 2024
Richard L. Zeitlin, a Las Vegas-based charity fundraiser who operated a telemarketing empire to raise funds for veterans, breast cancer, missing and disabled children, and other causes, has just been sentenced to 10 years in prison. In September 2024 Zeitlin plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to his charitable solicitation activities.
CharityWatch CEO, Laurie Styron, spoke with The New York Times about the lax regulatory environment that allows bad actors in the nonprofit sector to conduct highly unethical charitable solicitation activities, sometimes for decades, while never running afoul of the law.
“’It’s actually so easy to conduct highly exploitative and harmful activities as a charity fund-raiser, without breaking the law at all,’ said Laurie Styron, the executive director of the watchdog group CharityWatch.”
The New York Times, December 10th, 2024
“She said that fund-raisers like Mr. Zeitlin had one main rule to follow: Do not lie.”
“They were free to mislead callers by implication, telling donors they were calling for a cancer charity, then keeping most of the money themselves. But they could not tell a provable, specific falsehood — saying, for instance, that the donors’ money would be used to buy cancer drugs if it would not.”
CharityWatch had been warning donors for many years about many of the charities for which Zeitlin raised donations, issuing failing grades to them for their low program spending and high fundraising costs. Some of the organizations went out of business a decade or more ago, while others have continued to raise funds. Some of these include:
| Charity Name | Most Recent Rating Year | Rating |
| Association for Firefighters & Paramedics | 2014 | F |
| Association for Police & Sheriffs* | 2006 | F |
| HonorBound Foundation | 2020 | F |
| Operation Lookout / National Center for Missing Youth | 2012 | F |
| The National Cancer Coalition | 2015 | F |
| United States Deputy Sheriff’s Association | 2021 | F |
| Firefighters Charitable Foundation | 2023 | F |
| United States Municipal Police Association* | 2005 | F |
| American Foundation for Disabled Children | 2014 | F |
| Disabled Veterans Services | 2014 | F |
| International Union of Police Associations (AFL-CIO) | 2023 | F |
| Children’s Cancer Fund of America | 2012 | F |
| Breast Cancer Outreach Foundation / United Breast Cancer Fund / American Breast Cancer Fund | 2015 | Not Ratable |
| Vietnow National Headquarters | 2016 | F |
| Help The Vets / Disabled Veterans Foundation / Military Families of America / Veterans Emergency Blood Bank | 2015 | F |
Will you help CharityWatch continue our important work?
As the only independent charity watchdog organization in the United States, CharityWatch relies on your support to fund our in-depth research and analysis in order to bring you the unbiased charity ratings and other information you rely on to help you make more informed giving decisions. We are not directly or indirectly funded by nonprofit industry interests.
We hope you will consider making a donation today so that we can continue to speak openly and critically and call out wrongdoing when we see it without concern for special interests cutting our funding. CharityWatch is a small organization and your donations are noticed, needed, and greatly appreciated. Thank you for giving wisely!