Dear Mr Sheehan
Further to my previous correspondence.
I am writing from Cambodia - a country with no effective rule of law in which the rich and powerful can screw the poor and powerless with impunity; a country in which there is no government body that monitors the activities of fraudulent NGOs; a country in which human rights organisations, so quick to criticise corruption within the Cambodian government turn blind eyes to the illegal removal and detention of children from their families who, once labelled as 'orphans', can be used by unscrupulous NGO's to raise funds that are, ostensibly, used to provide institutional care for these children.
Some such funds, it would seem, have been raised by Scott Neeson and CCF in New York these past 5 years. Anecdotal evidence suggests that tax-exempt donations have been made in New York to the tune of millions of dollars. I am curious to know, and hope that colleagues within the media are curious to know, if sponsors and donors can legally claim Tax deductions if CCF is not registered in New York?
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| John & Cammie Rice: CCF donors |
I am curious to know also if the fund-raising event scheduled to take place in New York City next week can proceed if CCF is not registered?
In the event that CCF does register this week, are there any consequences for the charity as a result of having been raising funds illegally this past 5 years?
yours sincerely
James Ricketson
Neeson will get away with this scam the way he does all of them and no-one's going to blink an eyelid. He's got them all in his pocket except maybe the New York charity authorities
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Anonymous 1.29, I fear you are right. The Cambodian media will not touch this story with a barge pole. And nor is it of any concern to human rights organisations such as LICADHO and ADHOC that Scott Neeson is raising millions of dollars in New York illegally to run an NGO over which so many questions of integrity and honesty hang.
DeleteSo one high school dropout takes hundreds of children from their families, takes hundreds of homes from the impoverished, locked a family out of their home for being $12 behind on their rent all while he is collecting thousands of dollars a year on their other children, hires two disgraced ex-policeman to run his Child Protection Unit (one of them a pimp, the other an admitted drug dealer), AND collects millions of dollars in illegal donations.
ReplyDeleteThe other man feeds the impoverished, is charged with a crime that never happened, is not given a fair trial, but gets sentenced to life in prison. His British Embassy destroyed evidence of his innocence, a corrupt human rights organization enticed false testimony, and the Cambodian press refuses to investigate and report on his case!
They have the wrong man in prison.
Something smells very bad in Cambodia!!
If there were rule of law in Cambodia Neeson would have been dragged into court for the role he played in seeing to it that David Fletcher was jailed without a trial - for a crime that the victim claimed did not occur; for a crime that could not have occurred as a result of the alleged rape victim remaining (according to court documents) a virgin after the alleged rape; for a crime which (if it had happened) occurred when David Fletcher was not in Cambodia.
DeleteNone of this should surprise us as Cambodia has been declared the most corrupt county in Asia and one of the most corrupt countries in the world. If you have a lot of money, as Scott Neeson and CCF do, you can do what you like with impunity. If you have enough money you can see to it, one way or another, that human rights organisations will say nothing and that the media will ask no questions. A very sad state of affairs - not just for David Fletcher but for countless other Khmer men and women who have been denied fair trials, who have been denied any trail or who are in jail only because they could not afford to pay the bribe necessary to get out of jail.
No reaction in the Cambodia Daily, Khmertimes , Phnom Penh Post.
ReplyDeleteThey're busy working on a plan B. (What if Ricketson is right ??)
These newspapers have no interest in what is fight and what is wrong. They will not go after Neeson. There is so much evidence available to anyone who does a little research that Neeson is a crook that it is impossible to escape the conclusion that the media, for its own reasons, refuses to look or, having looked, has been induced in some way to remain silent.
DeleteWhere is James "the weasel" Wright to answer these allegations of fraudulent solicitation of contributions?
ReplyDeleteMy suspicion is that even James Wright realises now that he is fighting a losing battle both in terms of 'shooting the messenger' and defending the indefensible.
DeleteHere’s the list of people and companies that give more than $100,000 a year to the Cambodian Children’s Fund:
ReplyDeleteCBS Corporation
Roland Emmerich
David Ryan
Sumner M. Redstone Charitable Foundation
Steve Tisch Family Foundation
Velcro, USA Ltd.
These $100,000 + donations are tax deductible in the United States.
The question is: “Can these donors claim their tax deductions if Scott Neeson and CCF have been raising money illegally in New York?”
If not, these generous donors might find themselves in for a shock when the Tax Man says, “Sorry, we cannot allow these deductions.”
If the donations from these generous donors run into the millions over the past five years the cumulative tax bill for them all could be huge.
I think it is equally important to the child sponsors that give xxx amount a month, and claim the donation on their tax returns from states where CCF is not registered. This could involve thousands of sponsors! Thousands of tax audits, thousands of tax restatements for multiple years, and thou$ands in penalties!!
DeleteHello Mr. Ricketson,
ReplyDeleteI spent a couple of minutes on Google and found a few facts about the Christopher McCormick Cambodian Children’s Fund. As a journalist I’m surprised that you didn’t do the same rather than emailing misinformation.
- Christopher McCormick is not a “freelance scamster”. The organisation was set up by family members in his honour - he was a young man who was passionate about Cambodia but sadly passed away.
- Your screenshots are from a fundraising platform called DonationTo. This is a third party website that they are using to process online donations. “Keep 100% of all donations” means that 100% of all donations go to their intended destination - Christopher McCormick Cambodian Children’s Fund - without DonationTo taking a cut. This is a good thing (and practically the opposite of what you are accusing).
- The organisation donates money to education and HIV related NGOs in Siem Reap, and has nothing to do with Scott Neeson’s CCF, despite the similarity in name.
A person of integrity would remove these untruths in case Christopher McCormack’s family Googles his name and finds your hurtful accusations. It only proves that if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Your are quite right, Anonymous 6.44, I should have looked further and was/am remiss in not having done so. And I will amend accordingly.Thank you for pointing this out to me.
DeleteDear Anonymous 6.44
DeleteThe following comment has appeared in my 'Inbox' but, for some reason, has not appeared on this blog. It reads:
@ Anonymous November 1, 2016 at 6:44 PM
Nice info. But i really have my doubts that you are a REAL Journalist because in that case you would have not posted an ANONYMOUS reply but rather used your REAL Name so we can check your credibility, too.
Perhaps you can also enlighten this audience why on earth Christoper McCormick's Charity is using the same Name as Scott Neeson's NGO: Cambodian Childens Fund. On the other hand it may simply a misspelling on one of the NGO's side which could have registered the Name "Cambodian Children Found" which would be perhaps more appropriate ? The two Orgs are in the NGO World and Neeson was a 21.Fox Hollywood Celebrity (so they say) so chances are not too small they knew of each other. I will now ask the NY Times and the Hollywood Reporter if they know a bit more on the issue and we'll see if everyone is as innocent as they appear."
Wow Neeson’s sure got some well-heeled donors
ReplyDeleteSTEVE TISCH
SOURCE OF WEALTH: Film Producer; New York Giants
FUNDING AREAS: Education, Arts & Media, Youth, Health & Human Services, Jewish Causes
OVERVIEW: Steve Tisch recently gave $10 million to Tel Aviv University to elevate its film school, now known as the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television. Steve Tisch moves his philanthropy through a family foundation, which gave away around $11 million in a recent tax year, and a smaller vehicle called the Steve Tisch Foundation. Tisch's philanthropy involves education, supporting K-12 as well as colleges and universities like his alma mater Tufts. Tisch also supports the arts and media. In health, Tisch prioritizes cancer and HIV/AIDS. Additionally, Tisch supports Jewish causes.
And John & Cammie Rice
DeleteAs Vice Chairman at GENERAL ELECTRIC CO, John G. Rice made $18,342,631 in total compensation. Of this total $2,537,500 was received as a salary, $9,932,600 was received as a bonus, $1,185,600 was received in stock options, $2,991,242 was awarded as stock and $1,695,689 came from other types of compensation.
dear editor,
ReplyDeletei am writing to you from Cambodia. Here we are debating if a well known
Charity , namely the CCF or Cambodian Childrens Fund, run by former
21.Century Fox Director Scott Neeson is a questionable business rather
than the child caring institution it claims to be.
A fundraising event, planned for Nov. 10 in New York by the above NGO
brought to light that another CCF Cambodian Childrens Fund is registered
in New York by Christopher McCormick " Cambodian Children’s Fund" which
apparently has nothing to do with the first mentioned.
In Cambodia we have little to find out. The intl. engl. speaking press
is reluctant to investigate and perhaps a bit too much in bed with the
entire 5000 strong NGO Sector here. Perhaps you can help us to find out
what's going on and send some of your journalist to the Nov. 10. Event
in New York.
You find most details of the controversial discussion on
cambodia440.blogspot.com and i suggest you start looking up the subject
from blog thread #207 if it is too time wasting for you to go through
the entire history of this blog
The cambodia440.blogspot.com blogsite is run by australian investigative
journalist James Ricketson (you can find his profile on the website).
Ricketson managed to get 2 daughters from a australian christian faith
church back to their parents in cambodia. For this the church went to
court and had him sentenced. The end result : getting the 2 girls back
to their family was well worth it.
Your help is much appreaciated.
Lots of questions, no answers. Team Neeson very quiet!
ReplyDelete100% rating from Charity Navigator for transparency and accountability! What a joke
DeleteI wonder if Scott Neeson owns some of Charity Navigator like he does the Phnom Penh Post?
Delete@ Anonymous November 1, 2016 at 6:44 PM
ReplyDeleteREAL Journalists would include PROOF of their observations/research results on Google. (- The organisation donates money to education and HIV related NGOs in Siem Reap)
None of this is provided by you. So i think you are just another well greased wheel in the Scott Neeson CCF PR Department. Not a single link was provided ! Why NOT ?? Do you claim to be a person of integrity ?
And since we are at it: Why not asking Scott Neeson some Questions like the one you ask James Ricketson ?
Quoting you:
(A person of integrity would remove these untruths in case Christopher McCormack’s family Googles his name and finds your hurtful accusations.)
Furthermore to underscore the importance of such integrity / moral: If what Ricketson provides on his blog is as some anonymous / khmer440 mob / ccf pr machine suggest wrong and rather a case of destroying the reputation of a man that did soo much good, why has not a single person related to the CCF ever answered a single question that was raised on this blog, or Scott Neeson, and his Australian convict buddies ever went to court with him ?
WHY ??
Perhaps because the damage would be irreparable and the nice house of lies would collaps on him ?
I constantly have to think of the Somaly Mam Story which was the NGO's Cambodian Icon at New Yorks fundraising events until Newsweek had the guts to report the truth ?
There are so many questions here that need to be answered by Scott Neeson but it seems there are no journalists other than Mr Ricketson prepared to ask them. What is going on here? Are all of Cambodia's journalists on Neeson's payroll?
DeleteA few days ago I visited one of the poor families I help as much as I can when I am in Cambodia. This family has kids in CCF residential care. The rest of the family works in the rubbish dump.
ReplyDeleteThe kids return to the family home (a makeshift dwelling made from scraps of metal, rags, plastic etc) every second weekend or so and the first thing they do is go to work in the rubbish dump to help out the rest of the family. The reason for this is that CCF provides the family with no assistance at all. Even the $250 a year in rice support has dried up. So, prepubescent kids, in CCF care, help support their families working in the rubbish dump when they can.
A few observations:
(1) CCF is not caring for families as it says it is.
(2) I have issued an open invitation to Cambodia Daily journalists to visit this and other families and find out for themselves what the reality is for families whose kids are taken into CCF residential care. My offers have been ignored.
(3) CCF propaganda would have you believe that Neeson spends a lot of his time visiting the communities CCF is supposedly helping. I have shown photos of Neeson to people in this particular community. Not once, this past two years, has Neeson visited to community. Or anyone else from CCF. The last time anyone visited from CCF was when members of staff tried to talk an intellectually handicapped mother with a baby (very handsome) to CCF to be cared for. No offer was made to help the mother or the grandparents. CCF only wanted to take the child off their hands and, no doubt, sell the child to sponsors and donors as a orphan rescued by Neeson. The mother loves her son and, poor though she may be, she does not want to give her child up.
(4) There are some elderly women in this community (mid to late 60s) who know nothing of CCF's 'granny program' but who more than qualify to be part of it. I wonder how many grannies CCF is helping, in fact? Such information is kept secret - like all else when it comes to CCF.
(5) CCF continues to ask teenage boys and girls in residential care to work for CCF for no wage at all - a gross form of exploitation.
(6) Neither LICADHO nor ADHOC has any interest at all in the legal and human rights abuses perpetrated by Scott Neeson and CCF.
Neeson lives and sells on lies, something that he has mastered over the years. l just wonder what the NYC thinks of his unregistered charity conning millions out of good heart folk
Deletel think people are just lost for words. its people like this Neeson that has people not willing to support charities .
DeleteUnfortunately there is no-one in Cambodia, no body, no NGO, no human rights organisation that monitors the activities of corrupt and inefficient NGOs. Each and every NGO can make up its own rules secure in the knowledge that no-one will stop them; that newspaper will investigate them or publish anything negative.
DeleteThis state of affairs can't last forever, however. When the truth about Neeson is publicly known by a lot of people (as opposed to the relatively few who read this blog) there will be plenty of journalists, publishers and human rights personnel struggling to explain why they turned a blind eye for so long when Neeson's scams were blindingly obvious to anyone who did a bit of homework; asked a few questions.
I heard McCabe and Neeson haven't been on talking terms for years . Seems that even the dodgy ex-cop who is famously known as the runaway cop after being busted stealing drugs and money from drug dealers cannot stand Neeson too !!
ReplyDeleteSo that's interacting that even the grubby pigs hate the Creepson . Only in Cambodia
You have only got to see anyone of Neesons speeches . take a look at this facial expessions and body language . you can see the everything that flows out his mouth is shit
DeleteI dont care if Mc Cane and Neeson are on talking terms. It is not relevant. Two people can work together without liking each other. I have no problem with that.
DeleteWhat I AM interested in is the kinds of work Neeson and Mc Cabe do together. I am interested in how they (along with Alan Lemon and the CCF board) account for the $3 million in salaries ("compensation") that has not been accounted for. I am interested to know how CCF could possibly have a salaries bill of $3.7 million - more tan the entire amount they spend on the children themselves. Or, to put it another way, how Scott Neeson and the CCF board can justify spending more to employ one staff member per annum than it would cost to support an entire family for a year? I am interested to know why the Cambodia Daily turns a blind eye to Neeson;s scams. Why the Phnom Penh Post does is obvious - he is a part owner of the newspaper. Or was. Perhaps he has sold his share.
And I am interested to know where the $300,000 came from to renovate the Black Bamboo restaurant and who is the owner of the long lease on that property? Did the $300,000 come from donors who thought they were helping poor families? Is Black Bamboo anything other than a Scott Neeson vanity project - a place to take sponsors and donors to eat fine food; a place to take Cambodian government officials who, in return, shower him in awards?
The fact that Neeson gets away with 10 times as much as Somaly Mam did is mind-boggling!
Still it says something about what fuckwits they are! McCabe must have a gun to Neeson's head, trying to steal his cocaine!!
DeleteThis falls into the category of 'scuttlebutt' and I am tempted to delete it. However, given that David Fletcher is in jail, and has been for 6 years, partly as a result of Neeson's scuttlebutt, his lies, his defamatory comments, I'll let it go. The damage done by Scott Neeson to David Fletcher is great. And unforgivable. The same applies to Naly Pilorge who, though she claims to have evidence that David Fletcher is guilty of rape and/or 'grooming' refuses to divulge it. Not surprising, perhaps, given that Naly was one of the founders of APLE - a corrupt NGO whose fund-raising modus operandi requires a constant stream of pedophiles to see convicted. It does not matter to APLE if they are guilty or not. What matters is the conviction - which is a great revenue-raising tool.
DeleteAPLE, like CCF, escapes all scrutiny by both the Cambodian media and human rights organisations.
So Neeson and McCabe can't even stand each other? Well that is very revealing!!
DeleteBullshit Anonymous 10.57.
DeleteNothing to say about Neeson's illegal fundraising Anonymous 11:07? You try to appear to have inside information about the bromance between Neeson and McCabe.
DeleteLooks like the "inside information" completely dried up heh Anonymous 11:07?
Delete