The head of a telemarketing firm claiming to collect funds for the families of slain spolice officers has pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
Justin Patrick White, president the Police Survivors’ Fund Inc. (PSF), entered the guilty plea on Monday just as his criminal trial was about to start in federal court.
PSF kept at least 95% of the donations it collected, with White issuing lavish checks for himself payable to cash, according to James B. Comey, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
According to the indictment, PSF exploited the 9/11 tragedy in its scripts, telling potential donors that “A lot of people who feel very strongly about what happened at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 are donating $911 to commemorate the day of terrorism.”
White admitted that potential donors were told the money would go to the widows and children of slain police officers, according to Comey. But little of it ever did.
In 2000, White deposited $113,000 in donations into his Fleet Bank account, issuing only $2,500 in checks to family members to slain officers. He personally cashed more than $90,000 in checks payable in cash, according to Comey.
The following year, PSF collected $330,000, including $180,000 that came in after 9/11. White eventually paid $20,000 to one victim’s family, but only after one of his telemarketers was arrested for criminal impersonation of a police officer, according to Comey. Meanwhile, White wrote out checks totaling more than $195,000, payable in cash.
White’s laywer, Paul Testaverde, denied to reporters that his client made a great deal of money. “There’s absolutely no evidence he’s living any kind of lavish lifestyle,” he told AP.
Sentencing is scheduled for September.
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