A thread by Boozy Badger

I don't have time to sit down and write a blog post about this right now, which
I normally do to address issues that pop up in the fandom. Instead here's the
summary in thread form:

1. Capital City Fur Con, a convention in Harrisburg, PA, folded yesterday.

2. Immediately on folding, former staff asked for proof the charity donations
had been made.

3. The Con posted a screenshot of a receipt showing a $217.00 donation to

the ALS charity, which was later confirmed to have been the charity from a
single panel that fursuit creator Made Fur You sent to the charity directly.

4. The con was questioned about this receipt, which contained the personally
identifiable information of the Made Fur You party that made the donation.

5. The receipt was deleted, and folks continued to question. 

6. The con and its chairman nuked everything.

Now here's where it gets interesting. @dixielioness , who compiles the

annual "charity from conventions" numbers for those neat videos, has stated
she believes the chair advised her the con raised $4,000 for charity. 

With all of the accounts nuked, she's gone over to Twitter to request they
send her an archived copy of the chat where this was advised.

On the Thursday prior to the Con, the con suddenly cancelled a number of
panels. 

Although not in attendance, I knew at the time it was because the con had
failed to pay the hotel roughly $15k. I know this because several people
started asking me about it, sending me images of an internal chat where it
was being discussed. This did not bode well.

It boded so well that one of their guests, who I'm friends with, and I had an
"emergency plan" whereby I was on call to come get them if the con
collapsed while they were there.
The same guest who would later tell me they had been told the con MAY dip
into charity funds to pay bills. I wasn't there. I don't know if that happened,
but I trust the source.

The guest apparently told the con that was a horrible idea and should not be
done.

Likewise, the guest was never actually reimbursed their airfare, something
they were willing to eat for the good of the charity.

NOW, here's where I disclaim things: I wasn't there, I don't know what
happened, but the folks I talked to on it are folks I TRUST who had
messaged me throughout the weekend with issues while publicly putting on
a VERY supportive face. They have nothing to gain here. 

And HERE'S where all of that makes sense:

If I was presenting this in court, I would frame it as "This convention, didn't

have the ability to meet their contract and expressed an intention to use
charitable donations to con bills, and can't account for the money it
collected."

And that matters, because Title 18 Pa.C.S. 3922 makes theft by deception a
crime, defining it as the obtaining of property of another by deceiving people
as to, as one element, the intent behind the taking.

BUT that's not the end of it.

PA has a specific crime called "Charity Fraud" as set forth in 10. P.S. 162.1
et seq, specifically the portion located at 10 P.S. 162.15, which bars the use
of deceptive conduct in soliciting charity donations.

As well as 10 P.S. 162.21 which creates a fiduciary duty (a position of trust)

in any person that solicits those funds - a requirement that they be held
responsible for the same.

And 10 P.S. 162.18, creating criminal penalties up to a misdemeanor in the

first degree when someone "willfully and knowingly violates any provisions of
this act with intent to deceive or defraud any charity or individual," punishable
by a $10K fine or 5 years imprisonment.

And that's for charity fraud. For the "theft" statutes if applicable, taking in
excess of $2,000 intentionally and by deception is a Felony of the Third
Degree in Pennsylvania.

So, if Bob forms a charitable organization (which Capital City Fur Con IS
registered as with the Commonwealth of PA, but not with the IRS) and
solicits funds saying "I will give them to X charity" but keeps the funds, and
knows he will be keeping the funds... 

...Well, depending on specifics, that could fall under either of the two
provisions mentioned about - Theft by Deception OR violations of the
Charities Act. And THAT opens someone up to the possibility of criminal
prosecution.

And...well...PA DA's WILL PROSECUTE if they decide they have a case.

There are plenty of "GoFundMe" and "WePay" charity cases where person A
sets up a fund for person B, then never gives Person B the money. They do
get prosecuted. 

BUT MORE THAN THAT is another consideration: The investigation ISN'T

just "a local DA."

In Pennsylvania, you know who investigates potential claims of violations of

the charity act?

The Attorney General of the Commonwealth. They have a whole

DEPARTMENT to do this. 

AND as a PA registered charitable organization, the group falls within the

Investigation/Audit authority of the Pennsylvania Department of State
Charities Division as well.

In short, IF someone made a "fucky wucky" it wasn't a "widdle" one. It was a

MASSIVE fucky wucky. Like Bad Dragon levels of fucky wuckiness.

BUT We do not know, and if the people in crosshairs are smart THEY WILL
NOT say anything without talking to an attorney.

And an attorney will tell them to gather -every goddamn record related to
finance and charity money- and get it organized to show the funds were
properly appropriated.

I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH how bad of an idea it would be for the

person(s) responsible to "take to the internet" to defend themselves right
now. Statements made online ARE admissible, they CAN be used. That
would all around be a BAD IDEA.

As to the "instant nuking" of all accounts...that's a topic for later, but it pulls
into the concepts of spoliation (destruction/failure to maintain evidence once
someone is aware of the need to maintain) and destruction of evidence (fun
charge) - and negative inferences. 

All that said, though, I gotta go to work on actual paying cases today. Let's
reconvene later, okay? Actually, one last note:

"BOOZY, YOU'RE NORMALLY CALM AND NOT THIS BLUNT ABOUT

STUFF."

I go out of pocket to travel to cons and raise money for charities. Fuck
anyone that takes food out of a charity's mouth. ACTUALLY ONE OTHER
NOTE:

The performers who travel to a LOT of cons? We smile and nod publicly then
get together privately and talk about the absolute shitstorms. We do this so
as not to harm a con that may be having growing pains.

But you better believe WE TALK.