Another faux charity cop outfit solicits illegally in Las Vegas

faux charity cop outfitAt the New To Las Vegas world headquarters recently, I was on the phone with “Vincent Wayne.” The object was to extract a contribution from me for American Police Officers Coalition PAC, which lists a Fairfax, Va., address. It was a standard pitch: thousands of injured cops nationally, the need to elect sympathetic politicians, etc., etc. etc. You can hear the general spiel by clicking on this link, which goes to a recording made by someone else and posted online.

OK, I said. I live in Nevada, where an unusual 2021 state law prohibits fundraising for law enforcement-themed causes without prior registration and the filing of financial statements. I explained this and asked, “Are you registered in Nevada?”

Click.

I think that is Latin for no.

“Wayne” wasn’t a real person (why I’m using quote marks), but rather a computer-generated voice monitored by a real person using what is known as soundboard technology. It’s all the rage among faux charities, political action committees, or PACs, that present as charities but essentially swindle clueless donors across the country by spending nothing on the stated cause. They get away with this mainly because state and federal regulators with only a few exceptions are asleep on the job.

After the abrupt termination of the call, I did a little research. Whadayaknow? Turns out the organization and its parent, the grammatically challenged American Coalition for Police and Sheriff’s PAC, aren’t registered in Nevada, aren’t very old, haven’t ever spent a dime raised on its professed mission to help law enforcement and also filled out a key federal filing incorrectly. Moreover, the paperwork lists as its sole responsible officer someone I’ve written about before in this space, and not very favorably.

Here we go again.

I am basing this on hard-to-find public filings made under oath by the parent PAC with the Internal Revenue Service and rounding the numbers. From its founding in early 2023 through March 31, 2024, the parent PAC, which includes the DBA child, raised $1.1 million in contributions and actually spent $1.3 million–$200,000 more than the stated contributions.

Exactly zero dollars were listed as being spent on anything even remotely political. Instead, all the money–every single dollar–went to these categories: fundraising, donor management, database services, direct mail services, postage, merchant processing, software provider, data entry, database services,payroll and accounting and IT. The vendors, who likely control everything, are mainly operators I recognize as serving other faux charities.

These are terrible financial efficiencies, especially given this organization’s stated purpose as declared under oath in its initial IRS filing: “to advocate for the collective needs of our nation’s law enforcement officers by informing voters of these needs and asking them to take action though various forms of media including direct mail and telemarketing campaigns. we will be accepting contributions and make expenditures for political activity.”

That initial filing, an IRS Form 8871 dated February 15, 2023, also stated—again under oath—that the “business address of organization” and “mailing address” of the parent was an address on Main St. in Fairfax, Va., a suburb of Washington, D.C. This appears to be a mail drop in a Staples store. IRS instructions specify that the actual business address must be stated “if different from mailing address.” I don’t see how a mail drop can be an actual business address.

The only name on the filings, and the one who signed everything under oath, is a fellow named Al Nizick. He is listed at various points as custodian of records, treasurer, and “contact person.”

And for a time, Nizick also was listed as a defendant in a federal court civil lawsuit in Houston, Texas, alleging violations of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act by another of his faux charities, POSC PAC, which mainly solicits under the name Police Officers Support Committee PAC. The lawsuit said Nizick lives in Oak Forest, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. The plaintiff in that suit, Christopher Laccinole, who has sued other causes and represents himself, eventually withdrew the case.

Police Officers Support Committee PAC has called me so often that it and POSC PAC are nominees for my list of America’s Stupidest Charities. The criteria is simple: exempt organizations that call asking for money after I’ve blasted them in this space. In the world of fundraising, can it get any dumber than that? You can see the entire roster nearby.

Meanwhile, that Nevada law I mentioned, codified at Nevada Revised Statutes NRS 82A.025 et seq, requires just about any organization raising money in the state for a law enforcement cause, including PACs, to first make filings with the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office before soliciting, under penalty of a civil penalty. I just checked with the Secretary of State’s Office, and there are no filings or registrations under either name.

So as I see it, the outreach to me from the police PAC was illegal—an ironic posture for an organization purporting to support law enforcement. Unfortunately, the Secretary of State’s Office and the Nevada Attorney General’s Office are MIA on this. It’s not the first time the Secretary of State’s Office has declined to enforce a Nevada fundraising law.

Anyway, I emailed a request for comment to Nizick–he is, after all, the listed “contact person”–and his two PACs, making many of the points above. I’ll update this if I hear back. Actually, I’m far more likely to hear first from “Vincent Wayne,” or several other of his other soundboard technology colleagues. Judging from experience and Internet posts by angry call recipients, they go by such names as “Brandon Landale” and “Steve Randall.”

If they call you, ask a good question. Another of my favorites is, “How much money was spent on the stated mission in the last year?” And you, too, might get a Latin response.

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