Complaints filed with IRS on Hannity and North charity

Complaints filed with IRS on Hannity and North charity

Two weeks ago conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel alleged that Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concerts were “a huge scam,” then Sean Hannity and the Freedom Alliance quickly and quietly dismissed her as a kook who was trying to make a name for herself, and the Main Stream Media never bothered to pick the story up.

But they will now.

It appears that there is merit to her accusations and Debbie Schlussel may get the last word.

Today, CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) filed complaints with both the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Sean Hannity, his Freedom Concerts, the Freedom Alliance and Lt. Col. Oliver North.

The Freedom Alliance was founded by Col. Oliver North Ret. (Fox News Host) to raise money to support the troops and their children through Freedom Concerts along with private donations, have raised millions over the last several years.

“FTC complaint alleges Hannity and Freedom Concerts have engaged in illegal and deceptive marketing practices by suggesting that all money generated by ticket sales for the Freedom Concerts he sponsors each summer goes to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members. In fact, the concerts are staged by Premiere Marketing, which is headed by Duane Ward – also the head of Premiere Speakers Bureau, which exclusively represents Mr. Hannity and Lt. Col. North. After staging the concerts, Premiere donates an unknown portion of the concert proceeds to the Freedom Alliance.”

“IRS complaint against Freedom Alliance asks the IRS to consider revoking its charitable tax status because the organization has engaged in prohibited political activities. When Freedom Alliance first formed in 1999, the IRS conditioned its charitable tax status on the organization removing politically partisan materials from its website and warned it not to intervene in political campaigns. Despite those warnings, Freedom Alliance’s website includes links to Lt. Col. North’s columns, which are largely political, rents its mailing list to a communications firm that works for organizations that “seek to reach Republicans and conservatives across the United States,” and hosts an annual “Freedom Cruise” with Republican politicians such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. In addition, Freedom Alliance appears to have a relationship with Team America, a PAC formed by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), dedicated to anti-immigration efforts and supporting conservative candidates.”

When Hannity promotes the Freedom Concerts on his TV and Radio shows he says, “Every penny, 100 percent of the donations are applied to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund.”

The 2006 tax returns for the Freedom Alliance proves that Sean Hannity is lying about “every penny, 100 percent” going to the Freedom Alliance scholarship fund”. (See more tax returns covering other years for the Freedom Alliance in the related documents below)

Sean Hannity has said very little about this other than to say “its not true“, conservative websites such as Newsbusters have posted their support of Hannity and a statement from the president of the Freedom Alliance, Thomas P. Kilgannon who surprisingly also says its not true.

While Sean Hannity and Col. Oliver North may wish these allegations would go away, they will not being going away any time soon since the complaints have been filed with the IRS and the FTC.

More to follow in the coming weeks and months.


Related Documents (PDF)

* 3/29/10 - Freedom Alliance FTC Complaint - Citations // 14.3 mb
* 3/29/10 - Freedom Alliance FTC Complaint and Exhibits // 5 mb
* 3/29/10 - Freedom Alliance IRS Complaint - Citations // 9.5 mb
* 3/29/10 - Freedom Alliance IRS Complaint // 2.2 mb