Virginia Pols – Fake Veterans Association – Law Passed

(10:30AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Increasingly Bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association Saga: Political Slush Fund

This story seems to have no end as States have started investigating since the St. Petersburg Times first broke it near the beginning of the year.

Navy Vets story gets even stranger

August 06, 2010 – We’re working on an editorial for next week discussing the latest turn in the increasingly bizarre U.S. Navy Veterans Association saga. Ohio authorities say that Bobby Thompson, the only one of 85 officers listed on the charity’s website that a Florida newspaper could actually locate, isn’t actually Bobby Thompson, but the perpetrator of an ID theft.

Snip

So a man who apparently stole his identity was able to secure a change to Virginia law that would make it easier to solicit money for a charity that, at this point, appears to be a complete scam.

This should not make anyone in Virginia feel good about the system. Continued

See This Scum Call Authorities Immediately!!!!

Ohio: Navy Vets charity leader stole ID

August 06, 2010 – The man is wanted by Ohio authorities on charges of identity fraud in a scam involving “millions of dollars.”

Courtesy of Ohio Attorney General’s Office: Photos of the man who represented himself as Bobby Thompson from a 2006 Florida identification card (left) and The Rancher Newsletter (2008).

Ohio authorities have issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the director of a suspect veterans charity organization that also is under investigation in Virginia, alleging that the man used a stolen identity to execute an apparent fundraising scam.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said Thursday that the man who represented himself as Bobby Thompson used a false identity to rent a UPS box that served as a collection point for donations to the state’s chapter of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. Authorities have charged him with identity fraud.

“Our investigators have determined that this individual stole the identity of someone else and used that as the centerpiece of an apparent scam that has continued for seven years and involved tens of millions of dollars,” Cordray said in a news release. “The real Bobby Thompson, whose identity was stolen, including his Social Security number and date of birth, has absolutely no connection to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.”

Snip

The association this year successfully pushed for a law that would allow it to conduct telephone and mail fundraising in Virginia without having to register annually with state regulators. Bobby Thompson, identified as a national director for the group, gave $67,500 to Virginia politicians last year in advance of the lobbying effort.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services began an investigation of the association in May, shortly after The Roanoke Times published a story that detailed the group’s efforts to get an exemption from annual registration requirements.

Most of the elected officials who received contributions from Thompson moved quickly to donate the funds to charity. Last week, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who received $55,500 from Thompson, announced he would follow suit. Thompson was the second-largest individual contributor to Cuccinelli’s campaign. Continued

Now as to the Virginia politicians, the law passed and Especially the man the State of Virginia people elected to be their Attorney General, of all positions to more then fall for this long running political slush fund scam, here’s a few links, from the Roanoke Times,  as to that back story:

Fla. contributor to Va. campaigns raises questions

May 16, 2010 A man who lived in Florida and gave $67,500 to Virginia campaigns is under investigation.

The mysterious director of a Navy veterans fundraising group that’s under investigation in three states contributed $67,500 to the 2009 campaigns of key state officials.

Starting July 1, that group can resume soliciting money in Virginia under a state law that Gov. Bob McDonnell signed April 12, despite an unusual last-minute plea from its sponsor, Sen. Patsy Ticer, that he veto it.

Her office requested a veto after Ticer, D-Alexandria, became suspicious of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and its former director Bobby Thompson.

Ticer had introduced the bill, SB 563, in January and it sailed through the Virginia House and Senate on unanimous votes.

That occurred after Thompson, a Florida-based director of the U.S. Navy Vets, personally contributed large sums to the 2009 campaigns of key Republican state officials, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks donations to state officeholders. Continued

Now as soon as this started hitting the news, directly after the St. Petersburg Times posted their investigative journalism reports, the politicians who received contributions in Virginia gave up those contributions, and so far other States or politicians haven’t reported same taking place yet this guy supposedly raised millions over a number of years, one politician stood fast and didn’t, the one common sense would say would have been the first as to the job elected to.

Cuccinelli sets aside vets group donations

The attorney general put $55,500 in a restricted account pending the outcome of a probe into the group.

June 18, 2010 – Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will freeze more than $55,000 in campaign contributions he received last year from the director of a nonprofit veterans organization that is under investigation in Virginia and at least four other states.

Cuccinelli’s campaign committee will put the funds in a separate, restricted account pending the outcome of an investigation of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, according to a statement issued Thursday evening.

Now is his office Investigating as it is that offices job would be, one might think, the first to call for one.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services initiated a probe late last month. The attorney general’s office could become involved if the investigation leads to legal action. Continued

Ah, but the good Attorney General of the State of Virginia finally relents, wonder if the restricted account was getting interest and if so if that also will be forfitted, hmmmm.

Cuccinelli to give away funds from Navy Veterans

The attorney general will donate $55,500 in contributions he received from the head of a veterans group that is being investigated in several states.

July 29, 2010 – Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has decided to give away $55,500 in campaign contributions he received last year from the director of an embattled veterans charity organization that is under investigation in Virginia and several other states.

Cuccinelli’s decision, announced Wednesday, comes after two months of controversy and unanswered questions about the activities of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and its mysterious director, Bobby Thompson.

Thompson, who most recently resided in Tampa, Fla., was the second-largest individual donor to the Republican attorney general’s 2009 campaign. He also gave $12,500 to other Virginia elected officials last year, including $5,000 to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s campaign. Continued

Would be really great if there are any other State Representatives, State or Federal, elsewhere, though it seems he was fixated on Virginia, to come forward with knowledge of contributions from this phony Navy Vet as well as Phony Political Slush Fund Veterans Association, as all that it appears to be outside of a Very Comfortable life for the perp. According to all these reports it raised millions of dollars over a number of years in the past decade, others somewhere must have been in the loop!

Actually to me it sounds like just what goes on as to Corporations, Laws and State or Federal Legislatures!

The Roanoke Times has a complete list of back stories on this along side of the upper report I have from them.

And the St. Petersburg Times has a page site with the originals as well as all these updated ongoing reports as this grows.