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Attorney
General Mike DeWine
Attorney
General DeWine Announces Agreement
with Go Green For the Cause to Stop Charitable Solicitations
(COLUMBUS,
Ohio) – Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine today announced an agreement with Florida-based Go Green For the
Cause,
Inc., Bin Boy Management LLC, Presidential Clothing Recyclers, and
individuals
Jay Katari and Nicole Leve to stop charitable solicitations in Ohio.
An Attorney General investigation found that Go Green For the Cause, a
501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, collected $19,000 worth of recycled
clothing
in Ohio claiming it would benefit environmental causes, but instead
most of the
money went to Jay Katari's for-profit businesses.
"Businesses can't create phony charities in order to make more money
for
themselves," Attorney General DeWine said. "Ohioans have a right to
know how their donations will be used, and in this case, most of their
contributions were helping for-profit businesses instead of charitable
causes."
Jay Katari, the owner of Bin Boy Management and Presidential Clothing
Recyclers, worked with Nicole Leve to create Go Green For the Cause.
Together,
the operation placed large clothing recycle bins in store parking lots
and
other locations in Ohio to collect clothing donations. Language on the
bins
indicated that the donations would fund the nonprofit Go Green For the
Cause.
In reality, most of the proceeds went to fund Jay Katari's for-profit
businesses, and very little of the proceeds went to the charity. Go
Green For
the Cause was not registered as a charitable organization with the Ohio
Attorney General's Office, and Presidential Clothing
Recyclers never
filed the required $25,000 bond to solicit in Ohio.
Under the terms of the Assurance of Discontinuance, Presidential
Clothing
Recyclers will pay a $44,000 fine to the Ohio Attorney General's
Office, which
will be used for environmental preservation causes. Go Green For the
Cause also
will dissolve and distribute its assets to environmental preservation
causes.
The parties also agree that they will not hold any position in or
participate
in soliciting donations for any charitable organization in Ohio.
For additional information about a charity or to file a complaint
against a
questionable organization, individuals should call the Attorney
General's
Office at 800-282-0515 or
go online at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.
A copy of the Assurance of Discontinuance and photos of the recycling
bins are available on the Ohio
Attorney General's website.
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