Latest Development: Our lawyers have sent
a letter to IRS, addressing the various claims made by the agent who has lead the attack against IFCO/Pastors. They compared our case with former Republican Representative Siljander, who used a non-profit organization (The Fellowship Foundation) to send money to an organization that the Treasury Department had listed as terrorist — and
went to jail because of it.
Compare the two cases:
IFCO: Legitimate charity work; not funding terrorism; no personal enrichment, no theft, no fraud, no sham operation. YET the IRS wants to take away our non-profit status!
vs.
Mark Deli Siljander and the Fellowship Foundation: not a legitimate charity, funded terrorism, personal enrichment, theft, fraud, a sham organization. YET the IRS DIDN’T take away the Foundation’s non-profit status!
What’s going on here??? IRS, please be fair!!!
Here’s what the lawyer’s letter says: “Viva Palestina is a recognized UK charity that delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Charities Commission of England and Wales found no evidence that Viva Palestina was providing any support to terrorist groups. The activities of Pastors that the revenue agent identified as non-exempt activities are therefore clearly charitable activities. The position was taken with regard to Pastors is in contrast to the government’s position in the Plea Agreement in United States v. Mark Deli Siljander (Criminal Action No 07-CR-00087-07-W- NKL (W.D. Mo July 9, 2010). There had been an actual finding that former Representative Siljander had engaged with an organization on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals list (i.e. for terrorism) through a tax-exempt charity. In that case, despite the finding that the charity (The Fellowship Foundation), played an important role in the financial transactions, the tax-exempt status of the charity was not revoked.”
We still have hope that this politically based witch-hunt will not succeed. An informational picket in front of the IRS headquarters in NYC Thursday led to a lot of interest from passers-by, including some who worked for the IRS. But we’ll see….
